


Like father NOT like son

by Hufflepuff_Star



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gryffindor Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor Ron Weasley, Hufflepuff Blaise Zabini, Lucius Malfoy is homophobic, Lucius Malfoy is racist, Lucius Malfoy's A+ Parenting, M/M, Physical Abuse, Racism, Ravenclaw Draco Malfoy, Ravenclaw Hermione Granger, Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood, Slow Burn, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Pansy Parkinson, Verbal Abuse, Younger Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hufflepuff_Star/pseuds/Hufflepuff_Star
Summary: Draco is a freshman attending college in a town where he doesn’t know anyone and is just trying to start a new life away from his family, he hopes to stay to himself and attract as little attention as possible. That doesn’t go quite well when he is assigned to share a dorm with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Blaise Zabini.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy & Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson/Blaise Zabini, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 80
Kudos: 233





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first FanFiction that I am posting on here. I am just writing it right now for fun and to practice my writing skills, but if you read it and enjoy it let me know and it’ll probably get me to want to write more. Enjoy :)

_ Sometimes you won’t know if what you did was the right thing or the wrong thing for sometime, just make sure that you do it with good intentions at heart. _

To be honest, Draco has never been sure of anything in his life, and right now was no different. It doesn’t matter though, because he knows that for once, his decision was the right one. He isn’t naive enough to think that he would have no repercussions for his actions, there would always be consequences for one's action, whether they be good or bad...Most of the time they were bad for Draco. But that was an issue for a later date. 

Draco leaned back on his seat on the train, reveling in the complete and utter silence. The only noise that could be heard was the clink of the coins in his pocket as his leb bounced up and down anxiously. He took his perfectly manicured hand through his thick platinum blonde hair tapping a nervous tune on his thigh. Right as Draco was about to lean his head against the glass window of the train to try and take a nap he hears the whistle of the train go off as it slows to a gentle stop. Apparently train time goes by faster than normal time. He slides his headphones onto his head and selects shuffle on his phone to play music as he heads off. He rises from his seat and reaches above to grab his luggage: An average sized traveling suitcase and a mini style backpack that he slides over his shoulder.

He steps off the train, takes a deep breath and releases all the stress and anxiety that has been bottled up inside him. He looks around to take in his surroundings. He spots a clock and sees that it is only 4:45pm, but the sun is already pretty much set which is just GREAT. Love it when the world works in Dracos favor. The lamps haven’t yet turned on which leads to it being almost impossible to read any of the signs, Draco looks around to see if there is a map around that he could use to figure out where he needs to go. He notices a stand with various types of papers and pamphlets on it and makes his way over and starts leafing through them. 

None of them are helpful he dejectedly comes to conclude, he doesn’t need to know all of the fun things you can do in this town. What he needs to know is how to get to the freakin school. But, alas he is just doomed to wander around this town for the rest of his miserable life never to be successful, just the town crazy person. Maybe they’ll give him free desserts because of how sad and desperate he looks. Ok that might be a little dramatic...but it doesn’t change the fact that Draco is lost and going to be very late if he doesn’t figure out where to go. He glances down at his phone to check the time; 4:55. He has 65 minutes to get to his new school, to start his new life before he’s too late. 

Draco starts tapping his foot to the rhythm of his music as it plays through headphones thinking about what he should do next.  _ And autumn comes when you're not yet done with the summer passing by, but I don't think I could stand to be where you don't see me.  _ Suddenly he feels a gentle tap on his right shoulder, his body instantly tenses and he whips around causing his headphone to fall and turns around to see….a girl. 

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to startle you, I just noticed that you got off of the same train as me and you seemed quite lost. So I wanted to head over and see if you needed any help, but then I heard your music coming out of your headphones and I really like that song. Anyway, Hi. Do you need any help?”

Draco reaches down to pick up his headphones off of the ground and calm the slight tremor that has taken over his hands as he tries to calm his nerves. He takes her appearance in. She has straight copper hair that comes down to her waist, freckles littering her whole face, dark green eyes that you could get lost in. She was wearing black pants and a vintage ACDC T-shirt accompanied by a black leather jacket. For shoes she was wearing red heeled boots which kind of contrasted her vibe, but to each their own. The thing that Draco did take notice of though was her suitcase, not the fact that she either thrifted it or a hand me down, the fact that it had a tag on it that read “Hogwarts”.

“Oh my god, I didn’t even introduce myself how rude oh me. The names Ginny Weasley, and you?” The girl that has just introduced herself sticks out her hand to greet him. Draco stares at her hand for a couple seconds totally being caught off guard by her forwardness. 

He finally snaps out of his daze and shakes her hurriedly as he responds ever so eloquently. “Oh um sorry. I-i-it’s Draco.”

“Draco what? If you don’t mind me asking.” She asks him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“ Oh yes, of course, that’s terribly rude of me, my apologies.The names Draco M- Black. Draco Black” Draco catches himself quick enough that he prays she doesn’t even notice his slight slip up. It’s going to be quite hard to start his new life if he’s already messed up in less than 5 minutes of getting off the train.

“Well alright Draco Black, how can I help you? You seem a little lost dear boy.”

“Yeah I kind of am” Draco starts to bounce on the balls of his feet, a habit he’s started doing fairly recently when he feels stressed and anxious, “ I’m supposed to be starting my first day of college at Hogwarts today but the problem is I’m totally new here and I have no idea where anything is and it’s quite dark outside and I can’t read any of the signs. I’m supposed to be in a meeting with the headmaster in about an hour but I have a feeling I’m going to be very late at this rate.”

Ginny gives him a puzzled look once he is done talking and that does not help his stress levels at all thank you very much. Right when he is about to turn around and sprint in the opposite direction her whole demeanor changes like a snap of the fingers. 

“Oh of course, I could tell as soon as my eyes laid on you that you were a confused aspiring college student, no offense” She looks back at him and the mischievous look returning to her eyes. Surprisingly it calms him a little bit. It’s not an evil look, it’s a pure innocent...friendly one maybe? 

“No, of course that is a completely understandable conclusion given my...everything right now. Do you have any idea where the school is? I’m kind of in a rush.” 

“Oh my of course. I’m actually heading there right now so if you want you can join me as I head over” 

“Please lead the way”

With that Draco lets out a deep sigh of relief, praising the gods for finally giving him a god damn break. He grabs his bags from the ground and follows after the firey red head. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy shit. Just… Holy shit. There are no other words that come to Dracos mind as he stares at the monstrosity that must be Hogwarts as it comes to view. His facial expression must demonstrate based off of the smirk he sees on Ginny's face.

“A little surprised are we?” Ginny asks chuckling slightly

“It’s… It’s different from what I thought. I mean it’s a literal castle. How do they even afford to fund this place?”

“Probably the highway robbery that they disguise as the tuition” Ginny says with a look of utter frustration and light disgust hidden in her voice.

That’s when Draco really gets a good look at how she’s dressed. It’s cute, she looks really pretty, well for a girl anyway. But it doesn’t take a genius to see that her clothes are either hand me downs or thrifted. Which of course there’s nothing wrong with that Draco catches himself cashtizing himself. It’s honestly just an observation that Draco makes. 

“Huh ok good to know. How long have you been going to this school?” Draco asks, trying to deter the subject as to something else to make her return back to how she was before. 

“This’ll be my second year attending Hogwarts, I’m studying astronomy with a focus on meteorology hopefully. Actually that does remind me about one of my questions from earlier. How old are you, because I assume you have to be old enough to go to college but you don’t look more than 15 to me.” Ginny responds with her smile getting bigger on her face as she responds to him. 

Draco takes about 3 seconds to panic internally before he responds back to her hoping that she doesn’t make too big a deal of what he’s about to say.

“16” He mumbles barely audible, or he THOUGHT it was barely audible. 

“Pardon me?” Ginny turns towards him, eyes bulging out of her head in shock but she keeps heading forward. 

“ I’m 16 years old, I skipped a couple years of school so I was able to graduate High School early, and here we are.” He responds, fiddling distractingly with the fringe at the end of his mustard yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. 

“Wow, that’s impressive. I’m not quite sure how many prodigies we have. Your parents must be proud.” Ginny replies slightly in awe, already turning her head back towards the road. 

A full body shudder courses through Dracos body causing him to stop walking as his heart rate quickens and his face pales even more than he thought it ever could despite everything. 

Ginny turns her head over her shoulder to shout to him that they are about to reach the main enerence and to hurry up. So, with a shake of his head Draco composes himself and takes a step forward toward and through the gate with only one thought in his head playing on repeat:  _ New beginnings. _


	2. A new home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for coming back to read this story. A couple things I want to clarify though. I know that in the first chapter, I said that Draco was 16, but I’m going to change his age to 17 going on 18 and Harry is going to be 19 to avoid any weird age gaps. Also originally I had Draco in Hufflepuff and Blaise in Ravenclaw but when I was working out the plot I decided to switch the two. I will write a story with Draco as a Hufflepuff but it just didn’t work for this plot.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left a comment, Kudo, Bookmarked or read it, it makes me really happy. I’m going to try and make the chapters longer but that’ll mean it will take me longer to update. I’m shooting for once a week. Please leave a comment or kudo if you enjoy this chapter. Here’s chapter 2, I really like it. I hope you will too.

_ A house is where you live, a home is where you feel safe. _

  
The interior of Hogwarts was even more amazing then the outside, the fact that it was actually a college and not a castle for royalty escaped Draco's head for a couple seconds as he spun around looking at it in awe. It has a gothic style to it which is especially visible in the staircases and windows. Some of them are made up of stained glass which has a green, gold, red or blue tint when sunlight shines through it. The overall basic interior is gold or dark brown colored. There are chandeliers which look like they could be taken out of Phantom of the Opera. There is probably so much more that Draco could discover from looking at it but he doesn’t have the time. As much as he wants to look into the history as to how Hogwarts was created, how it became what it is, and appreciate the absolute ARTISTRY that makes it a college. He races after Ginny as she leads him to where he assumes the Headmasters office is. 

Draco tries to keep up with the pace that Ginny has set as they hurry down the hallway. The only issue is that he is pretty small compared to anyone only reaching 5’3”, and Ginny is quite tall reaching the full height of 5’6”. His two to three steps equal only one of hers. With a scowl he glances down to check the time 5:53, if him and Ginny keep at this rapid speed they should arrive at the headmasters office just in-

WHAM

Before Draco can even finish his thought he is rammed into by what FEELS like a full grown horse coming at him at full speed. Within a matter of seconds Draco is a ball on the ground with his bags and other belongings scattered around him as he grips his side, that was the  victim o f this assault. He can physically feel the bruise already forming on the right side along his rib cage. He realizes that this is impossible realistically, but he knows how much force a body needs to take to form different kinds of injuries. What in god's name was the point of him escaping if he is going to turn out battered and bruised no matter where he goes? 

He shakes his head a little bit to get it to stop freaking spinning. Once he can determine what is up and what is down he starts to push off the surprisingly clean marble floor. Is nothing in this school average? He suddenly registers two very loud, painfully loud voices to be honest, voices next to him.

“- and furthermore, with the amount of space your stupidity takes up it’s a miracle that you pass all of your classes! Honest to god how do you manage it? Please enlighten me. Actually can you tell me why the HELL you are BIKING in the BUILDING” 

Oh that is definitely Ginny Draco concludes. A hint of a smirk graces his face, but is instantly replaced with a wince as he feels another pang in his side. Why did they feel a need to be screaming right now instead of maybe helping him get off of the ground. Draco stifles a moan as he hears another voice respond to Ginny. 

“How many times do you want me to apologize Gin? Most people are either in town, the dining hall or their Dorms by now. I didn’t think anyone one would be bothered with me riding my bike around. Also, one, how was I supposed to know that you would be here? Two you were also kind of running through the hall so I’m not completely at fault here. Three, who even is this guy?”

“This guy”, mumbles Draco as he finally pushes himself to his feet, “who you rudely ran into, is named Draco”. Draco breathes out a huff of air to get his hair out of his eyes and sees quite possibly the most attractive person he has ever laid his eyes on. 

He had to be roughly 5’8” tall with a mop of black shaggy hair on top of his head that doesn’t look like it had been brushed in years. He has gorgeous olive skin and his face looks like it had been made by greek gods...Ok that might be a slight exaggeration. But his eyes are a deep green that resemble two emerald gems. He has freckles littering just under his eyes. He is wearing ripped denim washed out jeans, short ankle high brown leather boots that seem as if they have been through the wringer. There is a series of bracelets and chains littering his wrist with one having a heart and two names inside it, though Draco is unable to make out the names. He’s wearing a white tank top that leaves little to the imagination and a black leather jacket on top of it.

To put it lightly, he was the hottest person Draco has ever seen in his life. Though Draco hasn’t seen a lot of other guys in his life… but that’s besides the point. He, once again, shakes his head to clear it and realizes that the mystery guy has asked him a question of some kind but he is too busy acting like a 12 year old teenager, fawning after someone who is CLEARLY out of their league to notice. 

“Ginny is he deaf? Did I make him deaf? I don’t think I hit his head, but he’s so tiny who can really be sure? Hello?”The man who has just spoken waves his large calloused hand very rudely right in front of Draco. Draco’s face starts to heat after he hears the snide remark escape the asshole's mouth. He may be the hottest person Draco has ever seen but that does not excuse him acting like a total dipshit. 

“No HE is not deaf. HE is in immense pain right now because some ASSHOLE decided to ride a bicycle at him at FULL SPEED.” With that, Draco snatches his belongings off of the ground, grabs Ginny's hand, and heads off in the direction that they were heading earlier. Some may say that he stormed away, but Draco would like to think that he gracefully exited, with Ginny cackling as they left. Though as they left Draco could feel someone’s eyes follow him down the hall. But he didn't have time to turn around and see who that might be. 

After what only felt like seconds he looked down at his phone and realizes it was 6:00 right as he reaches the headmaster's office with his knuckle about to knock on the door. But, before he can even knock on the door he comes face to face to...some twink? 

* * *

So twink may not be the best way to describe someone who is clearly a professor here but honest to god Draco cannot think of another way to describe the man that is looking at him right now. He looks like a skinny bean poll. He has flat brown hair that pokes out under his deep red ivy cap on the top of his head. He has on white pants with black suspenders that lay on top of a white dress shirt. His face though, that’s the part that really shocks draco. He has three distinct scar lines that run on the bottom half of his face. 

With Draco taking in this man's appearance in front of him he forgets that typically when one comes face to face with someone you are supposed to say hello. The man in front of him gives him a once over before he smiles brightly at Draco and sticks out his hand to introduce himself.

“Hello there, you must be Draco I presume. My name is Professor Lupin, Lupin is just fine though. I am one of the english professors here at Hogwarts. It's a pleasure to meet you. Ginny I got it from here, why don’t you go head to your dorm and get settled in.” The man, Lupin, talks with a slight Scotish accent, which makes sense as they are in scotland. Ginny looks at Draco, gives him a thumb up, and then heads off. 

“Come inside we’ve been waiting for you, Headmaster Dumbeldore and I”, Lupin steps aside so that he can enter. The office is as impressive and elegant as the rest of the school. There are bookshelves that make up 75% of the wall and are absolutely filled to the brim with books of various sizes, colors, etc. The desk is made of a dark brown and has gold details on it. The room had various podiums with different objects on it. Draco could not tell you what they were but he would love to look into it. Behind the desk and a little bit off to each side there is a set of stairs leading you to a look out which was where Dumbeldore stood with his back to them.

“Albus look who has arrived for the meeting?” Lupin calls up to Dumbeldore from behind Draco.He turns around from where he is looking out above his desk and makes eye contact with Draco. 

The headmaster… is older than Draco expected. He has long white hair accompanied by a long white beard. Draco honest to god doesn’t know where one ends and the other begins. His face has wrinkles till the end of time. He wears a long dark brown wool coat that ends about two inches above the ground, under it he has brown slacks and brown dress shows. He has a white dress shirt and a brown vest on top of it. There's a silver pocket watch with something engraved on it dangling out of the pocket located at his left breast. 

“Draco, my good boy I’m so glad that you were able to make it. I trust that you didn’t have too much trouble finding our little old castle?” Apparently always having a grin plastered on your face was a symptom of going to this school because, so far, Draco has not seen one person without a smile on their face. Even that brown haired douchebag had a grin on his face when he was talking with Draco. 

“It was a little difficult to find at first, but I was able to find another student and they led me here.” Draco starts to fidget with the ring on his left finger. He does not like being the focus of attention, so the fact that the headmaster of the school and some random professor both have their sole attention on him...he is not a fan of this. 

“Amazing, now that we have had our mandatory small talk why don’t we all sit down and we can get down to business.” 

Well that doesn’t help Dracos stress levels at all.

Dumbledore gestures to two empty chairs on the other side of his desk as he sits down. Draco takes a seat in the one on the right side. He places his stuff on the right of the chair, and sits on the edge of the chair, keeping his posture perfectly straight. He places his headphones and phone in his bag and looks up to see both of them staring at him. Dumbeldore with a neutral expression and Lupin with one of confusion and… sadness?

“Draco, you can relax. This will probably take a little bit and we don’t require our students to be at… attention all the time.” Lupin speaks very calm and soft to Draco. He reaches out to place a reassuring hand on Dracos wrist and Draco has to put all of his energy into not having a full body flinch. It results in just his wrist flinching which would normally not be seen by others, but it doesn’t escape the view of the headmaster and professor he’s sitting with. 

“Sir, can we please get this meeting underway?” Draco tries to make his voice sound confident, but it comes out in more of a meak whisper.

“Of course let's get straight to it then.” Dumbledore reaches into his desk and grabs a white colored folder out of it and starts to leaf through it. “It seems as if most things are in order. Due to your top marks from your last school and… other factors, you will be getting a full ride to our fine establishment.” He glances up from the file to look at Draco. He gives him a look, not one of judgment, but as if he can see through Draco. Through the subtle make up, and lack of information that Draco happened to exclude from his applications. As if he knows every single thing about Draco without Draco even needing to open his mouth. 

“There are, however, some things that we still need to know, for legal reasons.”

“Legal reason?” Draco can feel his heartbeat speeding up.

“Nothing to be too alarmed by, just technicalities as you are still a child, legally” Lupin tries to jump in to defuse any fires before they even begin.

“I’m not a child anymore.” Draco’s voice is ice. Gone is the boy who mere minutes ago couldn’t speak above a whisper

“Of course, I don’t mean to offend you at all dear boy. The fact of the matter is that you are only 17. Until you turn 18 you are a legal child and need a guardian of some sort, in case of medical emergencies. You understand don’t you?” Dumbledore asks, but Draco knows that he doesn’t really have a choice. He has to comply if he wishes to stay at Hogwart and not return...there.

“Yes sir, I understand you. The issue is that I don’t have any adult figure I could use given my situation, as you are aware.” Draco doesn’t understand the point of this conversion, maybe Lupin isn’t aware of his situation but Dumbledore sure as hell is. 

“Draco” Ah, back to Lupin keeping the peace and Draco calm. “We know that. Ok lets start over. Dumbledore is being a little mysterious and cryptic right now, he does that sometimes. We need someone to be a legal adult guardian for you in case of emergencies. We know that you may not have anyone that you could trust with that role, but we have someone in mind. I don’t think you are aware he even exists, but he’s actually related to you.”

That was not what Draco was expecting. Draco knows all of his living family members. There may not be a lot of them, but he knows all of his family. It’s hard to forget them to be honest, no matter how hard Draco tries. 

“What?”

“Your name is Draco Black correct?” Dumbeldore asks.

“Yes sir, that is the name I am going by.”

“We have a teacher at this school whose name is Sirius Black, he’s your distant... or not so distant cousin.” 

Again. That was not what Draco was expecting. 

“Wonderful, seems like we have that part all figured out. Is that ok with you Draco?” Dumbledore asks Draco kindly. 

Draco, still in shock with the information that he was just given just nods his head.

“Wonderful. Now, before I send you off to get settled into your new dorm, I need to tell you your assigned house.”

“My what?” Draco’s confusion just seems to grow the more the Headmaster talks.

“Your house but of course. We assign them here at Hogwarts. It helps us assign your dormmates and keeps up school spirit, and good natured rivalry going. We assign it through the information you give us on your application and how you answered the essay.”

That’s… Draco can’t come up with his opinion on that information just yet..give him a little bit though. 

“How many houses are there?”

“There are four houses in total. It was believed from the founders of our school that people are motivated by one of four things, and that determines your house. If you think that the ends justify the means, you’re a slytherin. If you think that smarts and intelligence are the most important thing in the world, ravenclaw. If you think that compassion and loyalty matter the most, you’re a hufflepuff. If you are more of an act first, think later person, you’re a gryffindor.” 

Once Lupin is done with his explanation, it doesn’t sound so absurd to Draco anymore. In fact it sounds really nice. A place where you are with people who all have the same moral values as you. It sounds like a home, and Draco would really like a home to be frank. And Draco vocalizes that.

“That sounds nice. What house did I make it into?”

“Initially I wasn’t quite sure what house I should assign you to. But in the end it became clear that the house you truly belong to is ravenclaw” With that Dubledore’s expression switches from a kind caring one to one of seriousness.

“Now Draco before I send you off, officially, I want to leave you with some advice that I hope you will take if need be. Do you understand?”

“Of course headmaster, what is it?”

“You are safe here. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and out of harm's way. In return I do of course wish for you to stay attentive in your studies and all of that.But most importantly: You can have a family here. You can be happy here. You will meet amazing students and faculty here just make sure that you ask for help when you need it. Hogwarts will always be a home for people when they need it. Do you understand that Draco?”

Draco has to swallow a large lump that has made its way in his throat. He resumes playing with his ring and looks anywhere but the Headmaster. He’s never had anyone be this kind to him before, and it’s caught him off of his guard. 

“Yes Headmaster”

“Wonderful, now I have another meeting that I must attend. But know that I am always here for my students.”

With that, Draco gathers his belongings from where he had placed them down next to him. As Draco and Lupin head out of the office Draco stops right outside the door and turns back to look at Dumbledore

“Yes?” Dumbledoor asks, displaying confusion on his face for the first time.

“A cousin?” Draco asks with such a pure innocence in his voice. Lupin looks down at him, a smile returning to his face

“Yes” Dumbledoor responds to him, the confusion gone from his face.

“I like that.” And with that, Draco leaves the office with a new sense of wonder that he hasn’t felt since...ever. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How normal people update: Maybe one chapter every week or every other week.  
> Me: HOW ABOUT 3-4 CHAPTERS A WEEK! AND LETS ONLY FEEL THE URGE TO WRITE FROM 11PM-3AM
> 
> But really, I’m gonna do 1 chap each week cause I want to make them longer but that takes more time.
> 
> I know that I’ve been describing a lot of characters and what they are wearing (as you do in a story). If you would like I can post an update, or a link so you can see what I am describing/ what they are supposed to look like. If you would like me to do something like this, just post a comment to let me know.
> 
> Also I love getting notifications that you guys are leaving comments, kudos, etc. So please keep doing that, if you want anyway. 
> 
> Here’s chapter 3, enjoy.

_ Trust isn’t you reaching your hand to someone you can clearly see. It’s jumping off a cliff with your eye closed hoping they’ll catch you.  _

  
Lupin and Draco head through the halls of the school, taking the long way to the dorms so that Lupin can give him a mini tour of the school. It’s nice, being with Lupin that is. Draco knows that he only just met the man like an hour ago but he gives Draco a vibe, like Draco could tell him anything and Lupin wouldn't tell a soul. But Draco’s instinct has been wrong before, Draco can’t afford to be wrong again. You can’t trust anyone, especially adults. 

They turn down a hallway and walk past the library. Correction Lupin walks past the library and Draco stops at the entrance to try and get a peek inside without opening the door anymore. He can smell and see a little bit of the thousands upon thousands of books that remain behind the doors. Yes, smell. Books have such a distinct musty smell which is more charming to Draco than anything else in the world. 

“Would you like to check it out?” Draco spins around so quickly so that you can hear a quiet  _ woosh _ if you strain your ears enough.

“What?” 

“Would you like to check out the library? They aren’t technically open yet but I’m sure that we can take a quick walk through as part of your ‘tour’.” Lupin informs her with his good natured smile on his face.

“Oh.” Yes Draco, you are as eloquent as ever he scolds himself silently. “No it’s ok we can keep heading to my dorm. I can check it out later when it officially opens.”

With that they resume their leisurely pace down the hall, neither saying a world. 

“Have you always been so interested in books?”

Or Draco wishes that they would continue in silence. Draco nods back to Lupin in affirmation hoping that now he’ll get the hint that he’s not up for much of a conversation right now. 

“Do you have a favorite book?”

Apparently not. 

Draco shakes his head and looks down as he starts to fiddle with his ring again. Lupin and the Headmaster may have been kind to him but Draco is far from trusting them yet, and that includes any sort of personal information that can be used against him. You would think that something as small as what your favorite book is can’t be used against you, you’d be wrong. It doesn't matter that he feels like he can trust Lupin, unless he is given a solid reason that he won’t betray, Draco can’t trust him. So Draco just shakes his head quickly and keeps looking down as they head down the hall. After a few more moments of blissful silence Lupin decides to talk. Again. 

“I noticed that when you first saw me, when I opened the door, you were quite… is memorized the right word? I think so, you were quite memorized with my scars.”

Oh god Draco should have just told him what his favorite book was. He feels completely packicked right now. He’s only been at this school for less than 2 hours and already one of the professors is calling him out for staring at his disfigurement too long. Draco quickly tries to reassure Lupin that he is nothing but a respectful student who would do nothing of the sort.

“No sir- I uh… I wasn't staring at your sca-, your face or anything. No of course not. I was just trying to take in the appearance of the man in front of me that I’d never seen before. Which of course didn’t include your face or anything. Why? Do you have scars somewhere I never would have been able to tell because I was NOT staring at your face.”

Draco really needs to work on responding to people when he’s caught off guard because THIS really ain’t it. You’d think that after everything he would be better at lying, you’d be wrong. Lupin starts laughing whole heartily at him, but he keeps his gaze still forward, looking ahead, never shifting to look down at Draco, which Draco appreciates. 

“No, it’s ok. I’m used to it to be quite honest with you. I’ve had these scars for 25 years. Since I was 10 years old to be precise. I’ve grown accustomed to the remarks and looks from other people by now.”

Draco is shocked for two specific reasons. 1) 25 years? Like, yeah, they’ve healed a little bit but they are still so prominent on his face. You would think that after so much time they would just be slight scars by now. But they are still very visible and distinct on his face. As if it only happened a month or so ago. 2) Lupin is acting very calm and relaxed with Draco. Almost as if Draco is an old friend of his and they’re catching up on old times. Draco is used to Professors being treated as superior to him, their word is law and not to be questioned. Strictly professional. 

“How-” But Draco catches himself. It’s not his place to ask his Professor ,who he just met a very personal question about his life. Also, this was probably not a “nice” story. You don’t a mark like that on your face from a little accident 

“You know most people don’t know that story. If my memory serves right that list only consists of 7 people… and 3 of them are dead.” Lupin responds glancing at Draco while he talks, his eyes darting to him without moving his head. 

“Of course Professor. That was insensitive of me.” Great. The first adult who has ever shown Draco a symbolism of kindness and Draco ruins it. In a matter of only a couple hours. His father is right: Draco doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. 

“It was a normal day, I was about nine or ten years old. I had been on our front lawn playing, you know as little kids do. It was a little bit after 3 in the afternoon. I know this because my mother would go to water our flowers in the backyard every day precisely at 3. But she went in the back and I got up to head inside to ask my father something, I don’t remember what it was, but then they took me.” As Lupin talks he goes somewhere else. Not physically, he is still next to Draco walking down the halls of the school. But as Lupin stares forward his eyes cloud over a little as he recounts what happened to him so many years ago. 

“Who did?” Draco remarks as he stops fiddling with his ring. His eyes are still downcast to the ground.

“You know... we never actually found out who. He was just some random man who was trying to get cash fast and that happened to be at my expense. I happened to be there, easily accessible, so he used me as a way to try and get a large sum of money from my parents. The only issue is that we didn’t have nearly enough money to cover the amount he demanded. My parents were able to come up with half of the amount, so as a reward the man scarred only half of my face.” 

“If it was 25 years how come it’s so… so…” Draco struggled, trying to find a respectful way to ask his question without offending him. 

“Why is it so clear and visible?”

“Yeah”

“With the way he scarred me, the amount of time it took the police officers to me and how long it took us to get to a hospital and see a doctor. Too much time had passed and this was the best they could do.” 

“Did they ever find the man?” 

“No, they didn’t have much to work on. I never saw his face nor did I ever hear his voice. He disfigured my face, took money from me and my family, and then left.”

Draco blink down at the ground in shock. He could never imagine being kidnapped, away from somewhere you’re supposed to be safe, and are mauled by some stranger but you can never get closure because you never find out who that man is. Awful. 

“I’m so sorry Professor, that’s horrible.”

Lupin shrugs his shoulders and gives a slight hum.

“It’s been 25 years, I’ve moved on from it. But, when I was younger it really affected me. I was teased about it by children, you know kids can be cruel.”

Yes they can.

“I tried to do everything I could to hide in. I’d keep my head down, wear scarfs and arrange them a certain way. I even wore makeup.”

With that last comment Draco finally brings his eyes away from the ground and looks up to see Lupin looking at him, and he knows that that last remark was directed at him. He timidly brushes his finger over his right cheekbone where a heavy layer of concealer is covering a large bruise. He suddenly feels very defensive. Who is this man, who has only known Draco for a couple hours, who is he to call out Draco on how he deals with his personal issues. 

“Professor-, Lupin-, Professor Lupin. How should I refer to you sir?” Draco asks him exasperated, turning his whole body to face Lupin.

“My students just call me Lupin, I’m not for anything too formal.” Lupin easily responded to him, his eyes still trained on Draco. 

“Ok. Lupin, why are you telling me this? Why am I privy to this deep personal information that only a select few know? I’m just some random new student, there’s nothing special about me.”

“Because I know that look.”

“What look?” Draco is going to start doing a tally everytime someone says something that leaves him feeling utterly confused. 

“The look that you have, that you think no one will notice. Well I know it. I used to wear it on my face. You feel like no one understands what you’re going through, that you can’t trust anyone. And it’s understandable why, you’ve been burned and hurt so many times that you think that this is the only way you can survive. You think that as soon as you get your guard down you will be reminded and punished for it.”

“Don’t you dare act like you know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through.” Draco says with a heat he didn’t know he possessed.

“Your right I don’t know what you’ve been through. I’m not claiming to. I’m telling you that I understand what it’s like to go through something traumatic and difficult. Even if you won’t admit it to yourself yet.”

Draco doesn’t know what to do anymore. Lupin’s tone reminds him of someone talking to a small injured animal. And that’s what Draco feels like. A small little animal backed into a corner with no chance of escaping. In a panicked state Draco whips his head around searching for some sort of escape and as he spots the bathroom he sprints himself in there and locks himself in one of the stalls sliding to the floor. 

As he sits there on the floor he pulls his knee close to his chest and buries his head in them. He distantly hears footsteps as someone enters the bathroom and sits on the opposite of his stall.  Probably Lupin

“You asked me why I told you my story.”

Yep Lupin

“Why do you think? Why would I tell you something that leaves me so open and vulnerable?”

“I don’t know.” Came Draco’s muffled voice replied.

“Humor me.”

He didn’t want to. Draco just wanted to sit here alone with his thoughts.

“To make me feel uncomfortable?”

“Nope try again.” He replies very nonchalantly.

He Doesn’t know. Why would a grown man tell a random child about the most traumatic experience they have ever experienced? A kid no less who he could clearly tell has gone through something- Oh. Draco looked up and stared at the door,

“Trust”

“Yes. I think that it’s important for you to know that there are other people who have gone through something hard and turned out, I think, pretty ok. Now, I don’t know exactly what you went through, I have my guesses but it’s not my place to assume. You are moving on from it. And this is your new start. I told you in hopes that maybe one day you could trust me, as I have trusted you.”

“Ok” Draco manages to whisper back after swallowing a lump down, for the second time today. 

“So, I’m going to go and wait outside the bathroom while you can compose yourself. Then I can walk you to your dorm room...for real this time.” 

Draco hears Lupin push himself off the ground and head over to the exit, but right as he’s about to leave Draco opens the door and yells after him.

“Battle of the Labyrinth...that’s been my favorite since I was 12” 

“You really like having those dramatic last moments before people leave the room don’t you” Lupin teases him as Draco walks up to him.

“Who doesn’t love a little flare of the dramatics?” Draco shrugs as they walk out, feeling a little bit lighter. Correcting his thoughts from earlier; there is one adult that he can trust. 

* * *

As they continue their journey through this massive school Draco starts to open up to Lupin. Just a little bit, nothing too drastic. He tells him that he’s always been really into literature, he’s been homeschooled since he was 13, he used to have a pet cat and his name is Star but he had to leave him when he left for college. 

“Where did you go for your homeschooling?”

Draco gives him a look as if to say: ‘Are you dumb?’

“Well, I mean I was homeschooled… so I did it a home” 

“Yes I know what homeschooling is like Draco, I was homeschooled for a couple years after my incident. But, you have the option, for homeschooling, to drop your kid off at someone else's house to be homeschooled with other kids who decided to do their school that way.” 

“That’s… that’s just a school? What is the point of homeschooling your kid if you are just going to send them somewhere so they can be taught. That makes no sense!!!” Sometimes people's stupidity can stun Draco. The definition of a school is literally an institution for educating your students. 

“So I take it your parents didn’t send you somewhere else to be homeschool?” Lupin regards him with a fond expression. But with that question from Lupin regarding his parents, Draco can’t help but laugh. Not a small chuckle that can be covered up with a cough, or a clearing of the throat. No, a full blown cackle that comes from the gut. It is so sudden and loud that it throws Lupin off and he stumbles a bit before regaining his balance. 

“Oh god no, my parents rarely let me leave the house as it is. Before I was officially homeschooled they sent me to the houses of the best tutors that money could buy. But once I reached a certain age they wanted to keep me on the manor grounds unless it was necessary to my health. In their eyes I was ‘too easily impressionable’ and ‘would form the wrong opinions if not molded correctly.’ Jokes on them though, they did everything in their power to control me. I didn’t turn out the way they wanted despite themselves. I mean, who would want to be racist, homophobia, all of those horrible things when you could be literally anything else.”

Draco looks into Lupin's eyes studying them with great intensity to make sure he knows his honest to god opinion on what he just said. He knows that it’s risky; he wouldn’t usually tell anyone about what his childhood was like growing up. But, today had been anything but usal, and Lupin was not the kind of person that Draco was used to. To be honest he doesn’t think anyone at this school is someone he’s “used” to being around. 

But Lupin's eyes lock with Draco, not blinking or breaking from his face as he responds to Draco. 

“I’ve never been on to hate others for factors that are beyond their control. I’d much rather hate them for their terrible taste in literature”

Draco feels satisfied with that response.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself Lupin.”

* * *

Draco cannot believe how big this freaking school is, he feels as if he’s been walking through it with Lupin for hours. Sure, they took the long way. But Draco didn’t think the long way would be a marathon. Draco pulls his phone out of his pocket to check it as they round the corner and he slams into someone. They catch him by the scruff of his scarf before he has the chance to fall to the ground, making him feel like he is being strangled before he is able to right himself. Draco bushes the nonexistent dirt off of himself and looks to the person who caught him to thank him for not letting him fall to the ground, but the words die in his throat. He knows this man, he’s not sure from where but Draco’s gut is telling him that he does. Which doesn’t make any sense in reality because Draco, as he said earlier to Lupin, has only ever seen a small list of people in his life. He was only allowed to be seen and see people that his parents approved of. And judging but this person's appearance he would not be someone that his parents approved of.

“You should watch out where you’re going young man. If you’re not careful, you can fall and there will be no one there to catch you.” A gruff, raspy voice comes from the person in front of Draco.

“Draco, this is one of the professors who teaches here: Greyback.” Though Lupin’s voice has nothing but respect in it, Draco can pick out something else hidden in it. Most people probably wouldn’t have caught it, but Draco is usually pretty good at reading people, usually. Though Draco can’t exactly pick out what the other emotion is that was laced in Lupin’s voice not even a moment ago, he knows it’s not good. 

“Professor Greyback to my students, I’m not about these students thinking that they're on the same level as me. I’m not about that hippy dippy bullshit that you are on Remus.” He all but sneers back at Lupin. It doesn’t take an expert to tell that “Professor” Greyback thinks that Lupin is worth less than the dirt off the bottom of his boot. 

“Yes, we wouldn’t want the students to think you respect them Fenrir. God forbid.” Draco tries to stifle a small chuckle from Lupin’s retort but he doesn’t cover it fast enough. Professor Greyback’s eyes flash as he snaps his gaze to Draco and that’s when Draco REALLY has a chance to take in his appearance. He has long disgustingly greasy brown hair, he’s about a head and a half taller than him. He’s wearing a long black trench coat with a black turtleneck and black pants on under it. His eyes seemed almost pure black, Draco assumed that it was due to him possibly having dark brown eyes but he couldn’t have told you for sure. But that’s not what freaks Draco out. The part that freaks him out is that while he was taking in his appearance and overall look, the Professor was doing the same to him. And the look that he was giving him now,  as if he knew things about him that Draco didn’t, it causes him to smile showing his crooked yellow teeth, that’s what freaked Draco out. 

“Well, as...FUN as this was, I must be on my way. Important meeting, you know how it is. Klutz… Wolf chow” He spreads his hand out and gestures broadly as he shoulders in between them and gives Draco one last look. Even though he has left both Draco and Lupin, neither of them have found the urge yet to move. Both of them are still mulling over that encounter. 

“Lupin, who was that? I mean I know you said that he was Professor but to be honest he didn’t really seem li-” But Lupin silences him with a slight gesture of his hand and a slight nudge to Draco’s back as to urge him forward.

“Don’t worry about him too much. He’s one of the professors here who teaches communications. Just stay clear of him, ok? Come on, your dorm entrance is at the end of this hall.”

But Draco did have to worry about it; he’s an english and communications major. 

Fuck. 

* * *

The door to Draco’s new dorm, his new home, is probably the most lackluster thing at the school. It was technically 2 doors that were about 7 feet tall, and black. It also had 4 different small animals painted on it. A badger, lion, snake and some kind of bird. Under the door knob on the right door there was a lock that you needed to use to unlock the door to enter. 

Though the door pales in comparison to the rest of the school, the paintings are beautiful. But it’s not what has Draco’s attention right now, that honors goes to the yelling voices from within the room. Draco looks to Lupin, weariness clearly written all over his face. Despite that that Lupin gives him that reassuring smile that somehow makes Draco feel as if he can face anything as long as he has Lupin supporting him. So, he inserts the key, turns the door handle, pushes the door open and they are met by… utter chaos.

The room is just that, one giant room. It’s mostly taken up by bed space...quite literally. The main floor is sectioned off into four parts, each part having a canopy bed with retractable blinds surrounding it. The bed takes up 60% of each section, the excess 40% is being used differently from section to section. The beds also have minimal designs, or anything extra to them. The beds are based off of your house as each one is color coordinated: red and yellow on the right, blue and green on the left. Behind the main living floor is a tiny little kitchenette on the left complete with a counter, mini fridge and microwave. The right side, right across from it leads into a hallway which leads to where the bathroom is. 

But again, this isn’t what catches Draco’s attention. That belongs solely to the chaos that is unfolding in front of him. That “chaos” that Draco is talking about is from the two boys in front of him. One is a dark skinned boy with short black hair, probably about 5’6”, brown eyes and a dimple on his right cheek. He was wearing high waisted solid black pants, with a black and white vertical striped shirt tucked into the waistband, black round sunglasses placed on the top of his head, and black van high tops on his feet despite the fact that he was standing on a bed. The other one  is standing at the foot of the bed. Their hair is bright red, very similar to Ginny’s, his face almost as red as his hair from his yelling. His face is littered with freckles and he has blue eyes. He is wearing olive green overalls with only one of the straps clasped, and a black long sleeve shirt on under it. 

“Why are you jumping on my bed you freaking weirdo? In shoes no the less??? We’ve only been back for 5 hours and you are already antagonizing me!!!”

“Maybe I would actually be peaceful and not terrorizing you if you didn't spill CHILLI ON MY SUITCASE!!!”

“I TOLD you, I was sorry I didn’t mean for it to get all over your stuff. I told you that I would get it cleaned as soon as the laundry area opens up.”

“One, how did you make chili? Like honestly! You’re lucky if you are able to warm-up a bag of popcorn in our “kitchen” let alone make chili. Two, my stuff is going to have the STENCH of chili no matter how many times you wash it because you are incapable of doing anything correctly So, if I have to wear chili smelling clothes, you have to sleep in a muddy bed.” The boy gave a satisfied smirk down at the red hair kid and proceeded to dig the heel of his shoe deeper into his bed.

“MERLIN! How are you a hufflepuff? HOW?!?! You are the most arrogant, self centered, vindictive, unsympathetic, asshole-”

But before the redhead can finish whatever insult that was aimed at the other boy Lupin cuts him off to indicate that yes, there are other people in the room. 

“Excuse me gentlemen, I hope that I’m interrupting anything important. But, I have brought with me your new roommate.”

The two of them whip their heads around to see who interrupted them and their eyes grow. The one who was just on the bed jumps down and shoves the redhead out of the way.

“I’m so sorry about that Professor. I didn’t even realize that anyone had entered. All of my attention was on Ron.” He growls out, glowering at the redhead,Ron. 

“Oh trust be Blaise I noticed. Chili? Really Ron”

Ron shrugs his shoulders up and down and brings his hands up as if to say: What are you gonna do?

“It was an accident, honestly Lupin.”

“I’ll show you an accident, you walking red pepper!”

Walking red pepper? Draco is quite stuck on that comment.

Blaise storms towards Ron with a thick book in hand, waving it over his head. Lupin jumps in between the two of them facing Blaise hands held up in a surender position.

“How about instead of there being an all out brawl we do this: I go and ask some of the cleaning staff to clean your clothes and belongings until there is no hint of chili. And Ron I will go and have someone come back with new sheets for your bed. Ok?”

Ron gives Lupin an enthusiastic “great” and a thumbs up to signify his approval. After a few seconds Blaise mumbles an almost unintelligible “fine” under his breath. 

“Wonderful. Now, while I go get that figured out, why don’t you get acquainted with-” Lupin turns around and gently ushers Draco in front of him. “-Draco. He is going to be your fourth roommate for Ravenclaw. Be nice all. Draco, I will see you tomorrow in my office around 11.”

With that, Lupin turns around, gives a slight wave and leaves the room. Draco looks at the other two in front of him, just staring at him, not saying anything as if they are waiting for something. So he raises his hand and gives them a slightly timid wave. 

“Oh my god he’s mute. Ron we have a mute roommate.”

“Blaise that’s extremely rude if he is mute. Do you have any common sense? Please excuse… no, he's not my friend… this person next to me. The headmaster made a mistake in his sorting and we have to suffer for it. My name is Ron, I am a Junior studying criminal law. The idiot next to me is Blaise, he’s a Sophomore studying business. And our other roommate's name is Harry, he’s a junior studying political science.”

Draco looks around the room to see if he can spot another person but alas, he only sees Ron and Blaise. But he does notice stuff on the green bed that must belong to whoever Harry is. On top of the bed lays a black leather jacket that he swears he’s seen before, but just can’t place it. Right as he is about to tell them that 1) He is not a mute, and ask 2)Who the hell is harry? He hears the door from the bathroom open and he sees someone walk out and his heart stops. 

“Oh my goodness, do my eye deceive me...What’s up blondie?”

The hot bicycle boy.

Fuck. Double fuck. Draco is so fucked. 


	4. How to make friends 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this update is late, I’ve been playing this new video game non stop and doing nothing else. As a sorry I combined last week and this week's chapter for the update. Again sorry about that, I think I’m gonna update 1-2 times every two weeks cause I just can't manage time apparently. 
> 
> Here’s chapter 4 enjoy. Next chapter will have Sirius in it, I don’t know if this excites you. But when I told my friend she got super excited.

There’s no god. Draco has never been a religious person, but the thought of a “higher being” has always been present in his mind. However, he is completely convinced that there is no such thing as a god now. Before he would consider the possibility that he was just being tested and he was going to be rewarded one day. But, as he stares up at the tall brunette, with a towel wrapped lowly around his waist. He now knows that there is no god. Because, if there was...HE WOULD GIVE DRACO A HEART ATTACK SO THAT HE COULD ESCAPE THIS SCENARIO FROM HELL!!! 

“Harry, do you know him?” Ron regards him with a confused look.

Harry gives Draco a look that he’s seen before, and Draco doesn’t like it. At all. It’s a look that he’s seen on his father’s face for when he has all the power and he can bend Draco to his whim because, hey he’s Lucius Malfoy. Harry had a very similar expression right now. Through maybe he is being unfair to him. Because though they have very similar looks, instead of having a malicious undertone like his father does, Harry seems to have more of a playful, friendly one. 

“Know him? No. We happened to run into each other earlier today, and while I was so GRACIOUSLY apologizing to him he cussed me out and stormed away. Rude right?!?!” Harry looks at Draco and studies him once he’s done talking. Although he doesn’t stop his mocking and teasing of Draco, once he catches Draco’s expression and body language he changes his every so slightly. 

Though Draco did notice that Harry’s demeanor shifted ever so slightly he was still fuming. This asshole was twisting the truth to make him seem like this poor, innocent guy, and like Draco was the asshole. When in reality the truth was the EXACT opposite. Which was such a malicious, manipulative thing to do. But, these guys were Harry’s friends so there’s no way they would believe Draco over-

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for a second.” Blaise gives Draco a look of reassurance, like he has his back which causes Draco to let you a breath of relief. But it is surprising because just a second ago he was saying that he was mute because he didn’t answer him immediately. 

“Blaise you wound me. How could you think so little of me?” Harry places a hand over his heart to exaggerate his feelings of “hurt” and bats his eye lashes at them. Blaise doesn’t look moved at all, keeping his arms crossed over each other glaring at him until he registers what Harry asked him. 

“Do you want my honest answer?” His face lights up and a mischievous grin appears on his face, kind of like a kid in a candy store. 

“But of course”

Blaise literally cracks his knuckles and winks at Draco. Not in a flirting sort of way, like they he was making some sort of joke that only Draco would get. Draco turns to look at Ron and sees that he is rubbing his temples as if he has a headache and shakes his head. Draco feels like he is in some sort of sitcom, and he’s the character that’s supposed to represent the audience and their utter confusion.

“Harry… you are the most egotistical, narcissistic, chaotic person I have ever met. You cause a train wreck wherever you go.” Blaise draws out each insult as to make sure that Harry can clearly hear each one distinctively.

“Why thank you.” Harry proceeds to do a very overdramatic bow and winks at Draco as he does, and this kind of wink is most definitely a flirtatious one. 

“BITCH, that wasn’t a compliment.” 

“Guys, how about we try not to fight… or argue till after we get something to eat. Harry, we know that’s not actually what happened Blaise, let’s be honest you were just looking for an excuse to insult him. Why don’t we do the logical thing and as Draco what happened earlier.”

“Well, um… I was having this girl show me to the school be-because I had a meeting with the headmaster and er, while we were walking through the halls I had someone, Harry, on a bike ram into me. Then he was being a li-little rude to me so I, uhhh, I told him... to shove it.”

As soon as Draco is done talking both (almost at the same time) Ron and Blaise are hunched over cracking up. Blaise is leaning on Draco’s shoulder using him to keep himself up. Ron ends up falling on the ground from how hard he was laughing. This causes Draco to crack a smile at the display in front of him and glances at Harry to see him blushing, or think so…. but then Harry grabs clothes off of his bed, glances at Draco for a second, and then heads to the bathroom to change. 

“Oh my god. That is amazing, thank you.” Blaise straightens up and leans against the post of his bed. “What did you say your name was?”

“Oh... it’s Draco.”

Ron grabs Draco’s suitcase and places it on his bed, and he can head over there to start unpacking.

“Draco what? Do they have last names where you are from?” Blaise asks him as he plops on his own bed leaning over to his nightstand to grab his sketch pad. 

“Draco Black” Draco answers, keeping his voice strong.

Ron and Blaise’s heads both turn to look at each other, it only lasts a couple seconds but Draco feels like they had a whole conversation about him during that time. 

“Well, welcome to dorm room 6 Draco Black, it’s gonna be an adventure I promise you that.” 

Draco doesn’t doubt that for one second.

* * *

It was comedic in a way. Despite the fact that the introduction to the dorm room was quite wild, it was now eerily calm and quiet right now he observed. Harry was STILL in the bathroom. Blaise was stationed on his bed with his sketchpad on his lap and a pencil in his hand drawing whatever was pulled up on his laptop. Ron was sitting on the foot of Draco’s bed helping him go through his stuff and get it sorted, because...you know….chili. And Draco was pulling things out of his suitcase and getting his part of the room set up. 

“So, Draco…” Blaise raises from his bed, grabs a chair and swings it so that he’s sitting on it...the wrong way. Why is he straddling the chair, “...Who is Draco?”

“What? What do you mean ‘who is Draco’?” He gave Blaise a befuddled look.

“I mean: Who. Are. You? Like, honest to god nothing against you, I am sure you are a ‘decent’ person. It’s just Hogwarts is a small school you know? Like one of the smallest universities. And, most of the people who go here are from the area, family has a history of going here, or they at least room with people whose family has gone here. But, then there’s you: I’ve never heard of you before, your surname… it leaves questions, you are younger than usual, and you seem very secretive. So I want to know: Who are you? What’s there to know about Draco Malfoy?”

Draco looks down at his suitcase, part of a nervous habit that he’s picked up through the year. Not the suitcase part, the looking down and trying to appear as small as possible, and less threatening. Though he didn’t need any help with that given his stature. But he was never able to just run away and flee if he was in a bad situation back home so he just tried his best to become invisible. 

“I don’t know…  nothing much to tell. I lived in an average town, average upbringing, average f-family, average likes and dislike… I’m sorry, it’s a pretty boring story.” He hoped that he would get to wait a little bit before lying to his new roommates but the world is not that kind. 

Blaise tried to stare down Draco, and even though Draco’s heartbeat was going roughly 463BPM he didn’t break eye contact with him. He knew that Blaise didn’t believe him, but that didn’t matter as long as he didn’t keep trying to poke around in Draco’s life. Right as Draco is going to try and lash out to tell him to mind his own business Blaise abruptly changes his attitude. Draco has a theory that his rapid changes in behavior is either bipolarism or just insanity… or maybe a mixture of both. Probably a mixture of both.

“Well, if that’s what you say pretty boy. Who am I to argue with you? And, to be real, I don’t blame you for not wanting to open up. I mean, you are not from around here, you moved to this new place, was lost and confused, got taken out by some asshole- oh you can laugh, he’s an asshole. THEN, you had to have this secret important meeting which I’m guessing wasn’t the funnest time you’ve ever had”

“Eh, it wasn’t the worst conversation I’ve ever had.”

“...Ok, that’s suspicious. That’s weird right Ron?”

“I mean-”

“Shut up Ron. As I was saying, then you walked into your room for the next 8ish months and saw crazy people screaming at each other, trying to physically fight at one point. Then I called you a mute and the jackass from earlier showed up. So, yeah… I’d be a little reluctant to share too.”

Draco looked up from the sweater that he was folding and saw that they were both waiting for him to respond… to say something. This has happened before... it was what started the whole mute fiasco, which he guesses Blaise half apologized for. So he better answer before Blaise accuses him of being blind or something.

“Well, I mean we are going to be living with each other so I guess we should try and get to know each other a little bit. But, only if you guys tell me a little about yourselves too. I think that that sounds fair.” Draco decides that he has to try and be friendly with them. The only issue he’s mulling over is he’s never really had any friends so he’s going into this thing blind in a manner of speaking.

Ron looks like he could care less about what is going on and is just looking through Draco’s suitcase to see what he brought with him. Blaise on the other hand has the same ‘kid in a candy story’, mischievous expression from earlier. Which unsettles Draco a little bit. But not in a horrible way if that makes sense. 

“Deal. Alright pretty boy, where are you from?” Blaise puts his sketchpad down so all his attention is on studying Draco.

“Manchester England, and you”

“Ohhh, international aren’t we fancy. All three of us live in a town, or around the town,  Glasgow of scotland. It’s roughly an hour from here.”

“How come you all wanted to come to this school? I mean, isn’t it typical for people to want to move as far away as possible to get some distance between you and your family?”

Ron perked up from the book of Draco’s that he was reading through, he’s really got to keep an eye on him looking through his stuff.

“Huh, that’s actually a really good question.” Ron considers it for a little bit before answering Draco. “I mean it’s different for all of us. Me; I have 5 older brothers and they have all gone to this school, two of them still go here, they’re in their senior year.. My sister is a sophmore here, even my father went here when he was younger. So I guess it was more of a family tradition. I could have gone anywhere I wanted to, but I never thought of anywhere else. Even when I was younger I knew, I would go to college here.” 

First of all: 7 children, his poor mother. Honestly, he knows that his question wasn’t about how many siblings they have...but damn. 

“Yeah, Ron’s family is all loving and supporting and they hold hands and sing kumbaya. Me on the other hand, have a whole other story on why I chose this...lovely establishment. My family has a very traditional stance on everything. They had high standard for everything I did, who I talked to, where I went, you know all that fun stuff. At the end of my high school years I decided to ‘shove it to them’. So we got into a lot of debates of where I would go and what I was going to do with the rest of my life. My family has gone into business since… since before the age of time. So, we made a deal: despite the fact that they wanted me to go to Harvard, and I could have, I would go into business and take over the company one day and I got to choose where to go to college.” 

“Oh that’s… wow I’m sorry that sounds rough Blaise.” Draco looks over at Blaise to offer him some kind of condolence for telling him something that sounds really rough to go through. But instead of seeing a vulnerable face, which is what he expects to see, he sees blaise giving him a mocking glare.

“Bitch please, I was such a privileged little shit. My parents would get me whatever I wanted, they were just supper controlling and a little crazy. But, I really controlled them.” 

He really has no filter does he?

“So Draco, what about you? Why did you decide to go here?”

Now, Draco has two options on how he could respond to Blaise’s question: tell the truth or lie. The truth? Draco had been living by the demands of his parents his whole life and was tired of it. He had to live by the tyrant of his father, and he has the evidence to prove it. He wanted to become his own person, live how HE wants to. So he started to plan an escape for when he was done with high school. He had money that he had been hiding, his own that he saved and earned. He had a suitcase in his closet packed, so he could grab it and leave at a moment's notice. He even had someone to help him get out, his butler. But he needed somewhere to go. 

College was the reasonable choice, that’s what you are supposed to do after high school. Get a degree in something and then get a job so you can be a functioning part of the world. The problem with that is most colleges need a lot of information, which Draco can’t give without his father tracking him down. Well, except for Hogwarts. When he reached out to the school regarding information and what they would need he was connected with the headmaster. He was able to explain some of the situation to him and here he is. 

Or the second option, lie. 

Draco obviously cannot tell them the complete truth of what his reason is. That opens way to many doors that he intends to remain closed till he dies. So, he has to do some master class improvisation so that whatever comes out of his mouth in the next few seconds sounds believable. 

“Why does anyone go to a particular college? It has great departments for what I’m interested in, I got great scholarships, I wanted to go somewhere no one knew me to start a new life, as far from my parents as possible.”

To be fair, that was all completely true. He didn’t lie at all, he just omitted all of the essential details to find out more of his past. Mentioning the parents part might have been pushing it a little bit. But, he needed to add something that would hopefully satisfy Blaise. 

“Oh, so you got mommy and daddy issues don’t you.” Bliase wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at Draco ignoring Ron as he grabs a book and smacks him with it. He was wrong; nothing will satisfy Blaise apparently. 

“Do. You. Have. ANy. Common. Decency????” With each word Ron smacks Blaise as hard as he can with the book in his hand landing the final blow on top of his head. Earning a yelp of pain from Blaise and a laugh out of Draco. 

“Ron, it’s ok. I’m sure he didn’t mean-” But he’s shortly cut off my Rons scoff and as he hears him mumble under his breath. 

“No he knows what he means. I swear to god. Hufflepuff? Over my dead…” 

He has a feeling that Ron and Blaise get along about as well as oil and water. In the past hour that Draco has been in this room he’s seen those two fight roughly three or four times. 

“I guess you could say that.” Draco grabs one of the piles of clothes and turns to put them away in the dresser next to his bed, “My parents and I didn’t get along, you know most people don’t, at least not at this age. Nothing too interesting, sorry to bore you.” He closes the drawer and looks at himself in the mirror of his dresser.”I’m nothing special.”

“I wouldn’t say that blondie. I’d say you got some pretty special things about you.” 

Harry emerges from the bathroom in all his glory. Wearing a simple black T-shirt and jeans. He was currently ruffling his hair with a towel to dry it, so he didn’t catch Draco gawking at him. But when Ron doesn't subtly clear his throat he knows that he was still caught by someone and blushes deeply. 

“Flattery will only get you so far Potter.” Draco tries to respond icily to him but comes out too rushed to be taken seriously. 

“Oof you wound me ice princess. Don’t you want to hear my story as to why I chose to come here?”

“Nope”

“Damn. That’s cruel blondie. Just cruel.”

Why does he keep calling him blondie? Draco’s hair is more of a silver or white color. Though whitey would probably have some bad conotations to it, but he doubts that Potter would mind that to be honest. Draco gets lost in his mind thinking about Potter...again. When he snaps out of it he sees all three of them just staring at him...again. Wow, he really needs to try and not space off as much and listen to the people around him. 

“Did you guys say something?” he stares innocently at them. Unbeknownst to Draco the look he gave them, with his doe eyes and small stature, made him look like an adorable puppy which they found precious.

“Have you had anything to eat since you got here? Cause I sure am hungry.” Blaise asked him with a roll of his eyes. That is quite possibly the most normal thing that has left his mouth since Draco left him.

“Oh, no. I got here around at like 4:55 and have been super busy so I haven’t been able to eat anything. I mean, I also don’t know where anything is.”

“Ok boys, that settles it then.” Harry heads toward them to grab his jacket and slings his arm around Ron’s shoulders pulling him towards the door of their dorm, “let’s go.”

Go? Go where? He turns around to blaise, or he tries to but Blaise is stuffing his wallet in his pocket and already dragging Draco out the door by his wrist. 

“We’re going to get something to eat.” Blaise clarifies for him as the four of them form a line walking down the hallways of the school.

“We’re going to eat? But it’s 8pm, is the mess hall even open?”

“Oh gods no, that’s been closed since 7pm. But we hardly eat there anyway. No, we’re taking you into town to our favorite pub to meet some of our other friends. They should be there around this time. Don’t worry, you’re gonna love it. Trust me pretty boy.” 

Harry flashes his pearly whites down at Draco and though he doesn’t trust him yet, he did feel slightly more at ease as they left the school

* * *

Though it is dark outside as they head through the town the lampposts are turned on so they are able to see where they are going and Draco is able to take in Scotland's beauty. Manchester is fine and all but it’s a city. That means it is always loud, busy, metallic, and it never sleeps.

Scotland is quite the opposite. It is a very rural area so there is a lot of nature that shows it’s beauty to anyone walking through. From the trees with flowers blooming on them, to the very defined grassy hills that overtook the outer landscape. Though Draco could only see so much because of how far the lamps light covered, what he sees impresses him. The look of wonder must be visible on his face because Blaise bumps his shoulder lightly against Draco’s to get his attention. 

“Not used to the country side city boy?” Blaise remarks with a playful look on his face.

“No, I mean walking through a city would probably get a similar reaction. Maybe a little more subdued.” Draco responds to the last part thoughtfully. 

“What do you mean? Isn’t Manchester a city?” Ron asks from where he is walking next to Harry behind them.

“Well technically yeah, but I wasn’t allowed to really leave the house... like ever. When I was younger I was driven to my tutors house for school and what not, but when I got older they would come to my house to teach me so there was no point in leaving. Why would I?”

“Socializing”

“Your health”

“Your sanity”

All three of them responded back to back with a tone that had the effect of making Draco feel like it was basic knowledge that he should just know. 

“Well I did get to sit outside on the patio as a reward if I behaved well enough.” As Draco said this he kept walking forward down the curved road but slowed to a halt when he realized that he was alone. He turned around to see all three of them looking at him with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

“What?” Draco can feel a slight surge of defensiveness surge through him as he feels slightly exposed with the information that he just shared with his three roommates.

“I- You know what, I’m not touching that with a 10-foot pole. Ron? Harry?” Blaise turned to the other two as if they could “support” him in explaining things to Draco.

“Hey blondie you know that’s not normal right?” Harry remarked bluntly.

“Excuse me?!” Draco demands feeling quite attacked right now.

“Damn, you two have no damn sense you know that right? Jesus. What they mean is… What you’re telling us, if how we’re perceiving it is correct, is not how you would “normally” bring up a child.”

Draco knows that. He’s not stupid. He knows that how his parents brought him up was unconventional to say the least but it was what he had, he didn’t have a choice. He had to make it work. He looks back at the three of them at a loss for words. He doesn’t know what they want to hear, nor does he know what he wants to tell them. He looks and meets eyes with Harry. They have a whole conversation, nothing verbal, but when they meet each other's eyes Harry seems to understand what Draco is feeling at that point and helps him in what ways he can.

“Come on guys I told you that this kiddo was special, didn’t I?” He marches up to Draco and swings his arm around his shoulders causing a light blush to spread across Draco’s face.

“Thanks for the save” He mumbles out, just loud enough for Harry to hear.

“Don’t mention it blondie. We should be at the pub in a couple minutes, you're gonna love it.”

“What’s it called? I didn’t catch the name of it.”

“That’s because I didn’t say it. It’s this amazing pub known to most of those annoying university students but I don’t think it should be that busy yet. The three broomsticks.”

* * *

The three Broomsticks looks like your typical pub. It has a rustic feel to it, with a big circular metal light structure hanging from the ceiling There are a bunch of tables spread around the floor, booths attached to the wall, and a long bar on the opposite side of the room where you made your orders. 

On the corner of the room was a booth that made a C shape, it has five people sitting in there all roughly their age. There are two boys sitting next to each who have to either be identical twins or clones of each other. They both had bright red hair, the same shade as Ron’s and Ginny’s, yeah they were definitely related somehow. One of them has a white shirt, a black hoodie jacket, and an olive green jacket on top of that. Why is he wearing so many layers? The other one is also wearing a white shirt, but he has a red blazer and a black scarf on. One of the girls has dark skin, her hair is in long box braids, she has a simple red lip on and a white tank top on. The girl on her left has pale white skin, long straight platinum blonde hair, she’s wearing some sort of vegetable earrings on, and a solid baby blue long sleeve crop top. The last girl who was holding hands with the blonde looked a lot like…

“DRACO!”

Yep, that’s Ginny.

She snatches her hand back from the girl next to her and tumbles out of the booth over, over the twins, to where the four of them are standing. She is still dressed in the same clothes from earlier and before he can say anything she launches herself at him to embrace him in a big hug causing him to stiffen. Once she feels him seize up she starts apologizing profusely. 

“Sorry, sorry sorry. I forgot you hate being touched. I didn’t know that you were rooming with my brother and his asshole best friend.”

“Hey!” Harry calls out in defense of himself, but after the look from Ginny he just shrugs his shoulders in surrender.

“Come and sit down guys. Draco, I want to introduce you to everyone.” The twins jump out so that Draco can slide in so Ginny is sitting on his right and they are on his left. Bliase sits next to the dark skinned girl and starts talking to her. Ron and Harry were about to head off to the bar to go get drinks before Harry directed his attention to Draco, when wasn’t his attention on Darco?

“Hey, what do you want to drink blondie?”

“Huh?”

“We’re going to get food and drinks right now. We’re just gonna get a bunch of appetizers to share but what do you want to drink? Wine? Beer? Some fruity drink?”

“Oh I’m only 17 so I can’t drink yet.” Draco answers, looking down at the napkin in his lap, tearing it apart to deal with the anxiety of being around so many new people at once. 

“Oh my god, did you hear that Fred?” The one with the scarf turns toward his twin.

“Why yes George, we have a baby right here. Never had alcohol what a shame.”

“What a shame. Harry, you know what you gotta do.”

Harry winks at the two of them and spins around on his heels as he heads towards the bar with Ron. Draco turns to look at the two of them just staring at him, studying him intently. Does he have physics notes on his face or something? Because he keeps catching people studying him so intently. He lightly taps Ginny on her thigh, not taking his eyes off of the gingers sitting next to him. 

“Oh Draco, these are my older brothers Fred and George.” 

“I’m Fred-”

“-And I’m George”

That doesn’t make any sense that just switched names from earlier.

“No they're not, it’s the other way around. Never trust them, you just have to be able to recognize who is who from memory.” 

Yeah that makes more sense.

“Anywho Draco I want to introduce you to the two other people here before Fred and George traumatize you.”

Traumatize?

“Draco this is Hermione with the gorgeous black hair, she is a Junior like Ron, Blaise and Harry, She is majoring in Chemistry because she’s gonna be a famous chemist one day. And this gorgeous, spectacular-”

“Laying it on a little thick aren’t we Gin.” Ron cuts her off as him and Harry place the drinks and food on the table as they pull up chairs from a different table. 

“How about you shut up RONALD! So Draco, this silver haired queen is Luna. She’s a sophomore and studying and my girlfriend.”

If a person could physically have hearts in their eyes Draco thinks that Ginny would have them whenever she looked at Luna. 

This environment is not what he’s used to. He’s used to silence and being on his own 90% of the time, the other 10% being filled with the glares and scolding of his tutors or the shouts and the actions of his father. But here, right now, it’s the total opposite. There are about 15 different conversations going on right now, everyone is supper close to each other, reaching over and passing the food around, sharing with everyone. Very familiar and….warm. 

“So Draco” Luna speaks softly from where she is sitting next to Ginny

“I hear that Ginny was the first person that you met out of the crew.”

“Oh yeah, she saw me looking lost when I got off of the train and walked me to school.”

“Oh that’s nice”, the way Luna spoke had an airy nonchalance cadence to her voice that was very soothing to listen to, “How are you liking it so far?”

Draco looked around the table. He sees Fred and George talking to each other's mouths moving ridiculously fast, Ginny and Harry are discussing something that they are both very passionate about and arguing about it but clearly it’s just between friends, Blaise and Ron are arguing about something clearly not nearly as friendly with Hermione trying to meditate. It’s so different, so chaotic, so friendly, so…

“It’s nice. May take some getting used to, but I think I’m gonna like it here.”


	5. Shifting normality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four head back to the dorm with Draco being quite tipsy. The next morning they get breakfast and Blaise takes Draco to Lupin’s office where he meets Sirius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m only 18 and have never been drunk so forgive me, I tried. Apparently I can’t post the day I say I will. It will always come a day or two late, sorry. I love reading any comments ya’ll leave it makes me want to write more. I hope this chapter finds all of you safe and well both mentally and physically. 
> 
> TW for this chapter: hinting at eating disorders and Mention of past abuse

Growing up Draco was always told never to drink, smoke or take drugs. If he did he would live to regret it. (Not like he would ever have the chance to) His parents always told him that liquor and alcohol tastes nasty, and strong, and would make you throw up. Well they had clearly never had what Draco was drinking right now. Harry had said it was butterfly? Butternut? Butter...something and it didn't taste “nasty” at all. It was sweet, and creamy, and he’s on his 7th one so far.

Being drunk is like watching something on the TV but having the worst connection on the planet. You can tell that stuff is going on but everything is fuzzy both audibly, and visually. What is going on? If you focus all your attention to listen to what people are saying you might be able to make some of it out, but Draco didn’t have the energy to pay attention to anyone. He currently had both of his hands wrapped around his mostly empty cup of...BUTTER BEER, that’s what it was. And was giggling, kind of crazily, at the foam left in it. 

“Hey buddy, how you doing?” Draco looked up from his drink to see… Fred maybe, regarding him with an amused look. 

“I feel...verrrrry floaty right now IF I’m being completely honest. I don’t think I’ve felt this relaxed since… ever. No wonder people are alcoholics. Was that a bad thing to say? Oh well. ” As Draco talked with Fred he gradually tilted over until his head and the rest of his weight was resting on Freds shoulder. 

Draco blinks very slowly not being able to register if Fred was talking to him right now as all noise has disappeared suddenly. Not in reality, in Draco’s drunken state. Does that count as alliteration? Dunken Draco… As he ponders this very important question he looks around to see if anyone else has changed as drastically as he has, not that he would care in the state that he’s in. He sees Ginny and Blaise in the midst of an arm wrestle, what even is the appeal in that? Luna is leaning on Ginny’s shoulder humming quietly to herself, and Ron is trying to distract Blaise so that he will lose. Hermione got up at some point and is sitting near George talking. And Harry, he’s just staring at Draco and Fred. Draco sees his mouth moving but can’t hear what he’s saying over the buzzing in his ears. He tries to use his macaroni fried brain to focus on the noises around him, specifically Harry. 

“-and take him back why he is still conscious. Barely, but I don’t want him to be too hungover for his meeting with Remus tomorrow. I didn’t think that he would get this drunk his first time.” Harry was talking to Fred with a relaxed tone that Draco realizes he hasn’t heard yet. Right now he looks and sounds like nothing could worry him right now. One hand with a glass of some liquid hanging loosely in his hand and the other one propped up barely holding his head. His voice has such a carelessness that only adds to his demeanor. 

Draco goes to lean on Fred again because focusing on other people just then was utterly exhausting. Sadly though when he goes to close his eyes he flops down, face first into the seat as Fred had left at some point.. 

“Hey buddy” Blaises head appears to be hovering over Draco with a warm look on his face. 

“Heyyyyyy” Draco manages to slur out.

“What are you doing down there? Is it comfy?”

“As a matter of fact it is.” Draco, feeling slightly embarrassed in his current predicament, tries to wiggle in deeper into the cushion. 

“Yeah I’m sure, how about we head back to our room and you can sleep in your actual comfy bed.” Blaise starts talking to him very genty, like a little kid. But by the end he’s giving him the same sarcastic regard that Dracos has seen roughly 837249 times since they met about 6 hours ago.

He gives him a tiny little nod unable to even vocalize his thoughts anymore, (is he drunk or drugged cause what the hell is going on with his body?), and struggles to stand up before Blaise takes pity on him and easily lifts him up.

“Jesus boy eat a burger.”

As everyone was saying goodbye and parting their ways for the night Draco leaned his head on someone’s shoulder, eyes closed half asleep. Typically he hates being vulnerable or close to anyone no matter what the situation is, but right now it’s ok. He feels a hand raking it’s fingers gently through his hair. His eyes snap open and he realizes that he is leaning on Harry. They make eye contact and just stare at each other unblinking. Harry's hand is still frozen in his hair, everyone else is completely unaware of what is going on with the two as they are still saying bye to each.

They both continue to stare at each other unmoving for a couple seconds before Harry resumes the movement of his hand. After a few seconds Draco's eyes start to droop closed but not before he sees a small smile grace Harry's face. Not the smirk that he keeps saying anytime Harry’s attention is on Draco, but a caring, soft, compassionate smile. Draco has to be really drunk for him to think that. 

With his eyes closed he feels himself nudged forward as they begin the track home and doesn’t open them until he feels himself placed gently on his bed. He sees Harry literally tucking him into bed like he’s a child.

“I hope you were able to enjoy your first night of freedom.” Harry whispers down to Draco before he gives him a light pat and heads to his respective bed. Draco responds with a very quiet non communal sound which he knows Harry probably thought was just him talking in his sleep. But the truth was that Draco was trying to tell him that this was the first time Draco had ever hung out with other people and had fun, ever. Draco just couldn’t find the strength to open his mouth.   


* * *

Draco has never played an instrument, or even seen one. But he has listened to them over his radio. The loud deep boom that a drum makes when it’s hit can be quite poetic if it is played at the right time during songs. Furthermore Draco has never wanted to become a drum, but right now his head feels like a drum being hit over and over again. And it hurts like a bitch.

He rolls over and moans into his pillow. That slight movement though causes his head to throb even more. Draco grabs his blanket and pulls them over his head snuggling deeper into his bed. If he doesn’t move from this position for the rest of time maybe his head will calm down. Or at least he prays that that’s the case. 

But Dracos prayers are never answered. 

Suddenly there's a clang of metal on metal as some inconsiderate person whips the curtains open that surround Draco’s bed. 

“Ughhhh” that is the only thing that he’s able to audibly articulate due to the incisive pounding going on in his head. 

“Well someone is not great at dealing with hangovers now are they?” 

With a great deal of strength that Draco was not aware that he had, he turns his head and through squinted eyes he looks up to see who his torturer was.

Harry. Of course.

“I think….. I’m dying…” He barely gets out before flopping back into his pillow and letting his eyes close to try and ward off the brightness of the room.

“Pfff, you’re not dying. You just went out drinking for the first time and drank enough to get someone three times your size wasted. So you just FEEL like you’re dying.”

Draco hates him right now. Like he wasn’t the biggest fan of Harry before but now he hates him for intensifying his suffering.

“Ok, so what we’re not going to do is let you lay in the bed and mope the whole day. Come on get up.”

Without any sort of warning Harry grabs his right wrist and yanks him HARD. What he meant to do was help him sit up, what ended up happening was Draco got yanked out of his bed and landed on the floor. He looks up at Harry now fully awake and over it, his head resting in his right hand trying and failing to relieve any pressure it is experiencing.

“So I doubt you’ll believe me but I didn’t intend for you to fall out of your bed but at least you’re up.” Harry has the decency at least to look bashful and slightly embarrassed as he says this but that’s not enough for Draco. Before he can claw at Harry's face, which is what Draco really wants to do right now, Blaise is in front of his. He is crouched down in a squat, one hand holding some kind of medicine and the other hand is holding a mug of coffee that smells heavenly right now. 

“As funny as it would be to see your tiny figure attack Harry, and it would bring me much joy, you have to meet with Lupin in a little over 2 hours and we don’t want it to be obvious how hungover you are. SO, take this advil, drink the coffee, and then we’ll take you to get some food in your stomach.” As Blaise talks he shoves both the advil and coffee into Draco's hands leaving no room for him to argue with him.

“Can I kick Harry’s ankles during breakfast.” He looks up at Blaise from over the brim of his coffee as he takes a sip wincing at how strong it is.

“You can punch him in the face once you do what I just said if you so please.”

“Do I get a say in this?” Harry shouts from where he is now on the edge of his bed sorting through his bag.

“No” Both Draco and Blaise answer in unison. Draco smiles timidly into his coffee and Blaise rubs his head as he gets up from in front of Draco.

“Just go and get dressed so we can grab some grub Drake.”

Drake? He likes that, he’s never had a nickname before. It’s nice. 

* * *

Draco isn’t one for eating. Not in a bad way or anything, like he had three meals a day obviously just his mother would be livid at him if he ever went more than 5 pounds over his designated “perfect weight”. It really wasn't a big deal.* So when his roommates took him to a dinner called “fill ‘em” that specializes in unhealthy fat food, he wasn’t ecstatic. 

“The best way to get rid of a hangover-” Ron looks at Draco as he shovels food onto his plate at the buffet “-is to eat the most unhealthy, and greasiest, food one can find.”

Draco looks in wonder at the array of food that is on platters and bowls spread out across the loooooong ass table. Never in his life has he seen these kinds of food before. 

“Just grab whatever you like.” Harry tells him as he grabs a couple pieces of this squigly kind of meat. 

“That’s the issue guys. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or had any of these kinds of food before.” As he turns his eyes away from the food he sees all three of them to see them looking at him in utter shock and jumps a little when Harry straight up drops his plate. 

“WHAT?!” Ron yells at Draco ignoring his immediate shushing so that people don’t stare at them. 

“Shhhhh, Ron I thought that you were the calm one?” He regards Ron with a puzzled look.

“Not when it comes to food.” Blaise answers, regaining his composure.

“Never when it comes to food.” Ron reaffirms

“He loves food.”

“LOVES!”

“Well I’m sorry, I just wasn’t allowed to eat unhealthy food when I was with my parents.” Draco answers as he looks down feeling slightly self conscious.

“What about last night? We got a bunch of “unhealthy then?” Harry asks him with a curious look. 

“Well yeah I hadn’t had most of the food that we got then too but I wasn’t asked to pick what I liked, you guys picked for me.”

“So no bacon?” Harry asked him.

“Is that the squigly meat?

“Pancakes?”

“No.”

“Waffles”

“No”

“Crepes?”

“Is that french?”

“Nachos?”

“No”

“What kind of childhood did you have?” Blaise directs his question at Draco sounding at the end of his rope. His question catches Draco off of guard cause he doesn’t know. When all you know is how you’re brought up and nothing else you just assume it’s normal to a point, and apparently this: the lack of unhealthy food, wasn’t normal.

“A different one I guess.”

“Well fuck it” Ron declares he snatches the plate out of Dracos hands and starts piling different kinds of food on it before he passes it back to him. Draco looks at Ron and sees a cheshire cat sized smile across his face. “Come on, let's go eat.”  


* * *

Draco doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents, obviously he ran away. He would be happy if he never has to see their faces ever again. They did a lot of effed up shit. But, the worst has to be them keeping pancakes away from him. He should be allowed to sue and be compensated for the years they weren’t in his life.

“How did you enjoy your first ever breakfast?” Blaise asks him as the four of them are heading back to the school.

“I’ve had breakfast before.”

“But this was your first real breakfast” Ron calls to him, shoving the rest of the donut into his mouth. That man never stops eating. 

“It was transcendent. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything as good as bacon in my life.”

“That sounds about right.” Blaise laughed at him,

“ What do you have planned today pretty boy?” Harry asks Draco

“I remember that Lupin asked me to stop by his office later today because he wanted to talk with me about something but I have no idea where his office is.” Draco tells the three of them hoping that one of them will offer him help finding his office so that he doesn’t have to wander around lost again for the second day in a row

“I can take you” both Blaise and Harry answer at the same time and look both annoyed at each other. 

“No you can’t Harry you have that thing.” As Blaise says this Draco notices that he was clearly giving Harry a look, trying to say more but without vocalizing it. 

“No I don’t” Harry regards Blaise with a cold stare blatantly ignoring whatever Blaise is trying to slyly tell him. 

What is going on?

“Yeah Harry you promised to help me with my thing. We can meet up with these two later, come on.” Ron grabs Harry by the hand and starts pulling him in the opposite direction not giving him a choice in the matter. Harry and Draco just kind of stare at each other and Draco gives him a tiny wave not really understanding what just happened and he follows Blaise back toward Hogwarts.  


* * *

Draco follows Blaise back to school but notices that they are going a different way then earlier and feels confused. 

“Where are we going?” Draco calls as he jogs to try and keep up with him despite his shorter legs.

“Back to school? Isn’t that where you want to go? To have your meeting with Lupin?” Blaise responds to Dracos question far too innocently. 

“Yes, but we are obviously going a different way. I don’t even recognize where we are. I mean I have only been here for 24 hours but that’s besides the point…” Draco trails off as he looks around to where Blaise has brought him.

“This is where I wanted to take you. I call it paradise.” Blaise steps to the side and back beside Draco with a grand gesture of his hands. 

Blaise has taken Draco to a little haven. It’s a garden that is the size of a small bedroom with arrays of little flowers on the ground, wrapped around vines, even hanging from the ceiling. There is a little bump of a hill in the center with a small table and unlit candle on it. 

“What is this place Blaise? Seriously?” Draco asks him with complete wonder. 

“To be honest I’m not sure. One day, after a nasty blow out with the other two I went out, past curfew but I didn’t care. I was wandering around the town not knowing where to go and, not gonna lie, a little scared. So I was wandering around scared, upset and alone. I happened to wander down this alley and tripped over my feet, rolled down the hill straight THROUGH this wooden crate and landed in the middle of this… garden I guess?”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. It was weird I don’t think I would have been able to find it if I was looking for it. Does that make sense?” He regards Draco with a vulnerable look that is a drastic change from his constant looks of nonchalance and mischievousness.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Blaise walks into the middle of the room and bends down to pick a flower off of the ground spinning it between his fingers. 

“I know you’re Draco Malfoy. Son of Lucius Malfoy, the famed Lawyer of England. Not known for being the nicest. Heir to the Malfoy fortune and destined to take over when his father retires.”

Draco's heart drops into his stomach and he pales quickly. As he stands in front of Blaise everything disappears until it’s just the two of them staring at each other. He shakes like a leaf in the wind, unable to move or do anything but stare as he watches his new life crumble to the ground in front of him before it even begins as Blaise lets the flower fall slowly to the ground. 

“I- I-I do-....” Draco tries to come up with something to say to Blaise but he’s at a loss. So he says the only thing that’s banging around in his head right now. 

“How?”

Blaise takes a deep breath and rubs his hands together. 

“It doesn’t matter.”

Draco respectfully disagrees but they gloss right past that, for now at least.

“What does matter now though is what are you going to do now. You ran away from home to a new, unknown place, hundreds of miles away from your parents without telling them. Is that what you do then? Run away when things get hard? Is that what Draco Malfoy does?”

Draco storms right up to Blaise with a confidence that he had never before.

“I am not Draco Malfoy. I am not a Malfoy. Malfoys lie, cheat, and anything in between to get what they want. They manipulate anyone and everyone, no exceptions. They beat their children into submission…” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “Draco Malfoy was a shell of a person. Timid, scared…. A sorry excuse of a person. Draco Black isn’t like that.”

“He isn’t” Blaise gives him a calculating look.

“No he is not.” Draco tells him sternly not wavering no matter how much he was freaking out inside. 

“Good.” He dusts off his hands and changes his demeanor just like that when speaking to Draco again.

“No one knows about this garden, not even my girlfriend who I tell almost everything. Come here if you are ever scared, sad or just overwhelmed. It’s a good escape from life. I didn’t mean to attack you Draco, I think care about you. You remind me of someone I knew, and I want to help you, even if I couldn’t help them. But you needed to recognize who you are and what you want to be now. What person do you want to be? You aren’t their piece of clay anymore you are your own person. They. Can’t. Touch. You. Ok?” Blaise tenderly touches Draco’s shoulder with a soft smile on his face. Draco can only manage to give him a small nod back because he knows if he opens his mouth he’ll just start bawling his eyes.

“Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.”  


* * *

“Here we are, Lupins office.” Bliase tells Draco after they finally stop in front of a brown door with a dog and a wolf etched into it. “What is your guy's meeting even about? I thought he covered everything with you yesterday?”

“Same, but he told me he wanted me to stop by for something else today, I mean it’s not like I had any plans.” Draco brings his hand up to knock on the door.

“It just seems a little sus is all.” Blasie comments right as Lupin opens the door.

“Draco! We were getting worried you weren’t going to make it?”

“We?” Both Blaise and Draco respond at the same time. 

“Yes, Draco come in. Blaise, thanks for showing Draco here I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Blaise throws a hand over his shoulder whistling as he sauter's away. 

“Lupin, who is we? Who is this other person you have tricked me into meeting?” Draco asks again as they enter the room hoping to get a better answer this time.

“That would be me.”

Draco looks past Lupin's shoulder to see who it was that just spoke. There sits a man with his feet laying upon Lupin’s desk and a cup of coffee in one of his hands. He had unruly dark curly hair, olive skin, and very hash facial features. He was wearing black jeans with tears in them, a white t-shirt, and a black scarf wrapped around his neck. But back to his face, there was something familiar about it, but Draco couldn’t put his finger on it. 

Draco can’t help it and he gives him a once over. This man had to be in his late 20’s, around Lupin’s age. But the way he held himself reminded him of a rebellious teenager, not a grown man. Actually him and Harry had a lot of similar mannerisms. The way they hold themselves, posture, etc.

“And who is ‘me’?” Draco asks as he ignores Lupin gesturing at him to join him and the mystery man. 

“Sirius.”

“Yes I am serious, who are you shaggy boy?” Draco asks, starting to get a little impatient with him. 

“I thought you said that he was a bright one moony?” Shaggy man turns to Lupin laughing

Moony?

“My name is Sirius, I am one of the teachers at this school. I teach Astronomy. Why don’t you come and sit down.” 

Oops. He timidly walks forward grabbing the chair from next to Sirius and moving it to the other side of Lupin. He’s staring at Sirius to try and get a read on him but when he looks back at him Draco hastily looks away. 

“So Draco, this is Sirius.” Lupin cuts the silence with his chipper voice. 

“Yeah we kind of established that Lupin” Draco chuckles at him but stops when he sees Lupin gives Sirius an anxious look. Whatever they are about to say they don't think Draco’s gonna like it. With a deep sigh Sirius clears his throat forcing Draco to look in his direction.

“Now buddy don’t freak out” 

Buddy?

“But, my full name is Sirius… Black.” 

Fuck. Draco can see Lupin talking a mile a minute trying to reassure him of something but all Draco can do is think back to every family member he’s ever had the “pleasure” of meeting and his relationships with them. His uncle Rodolphus' words. His mother's negligence. His aunt Bellatrix’s physical abuse. His father combining all 3 of them. This was how his family had treated him, no matter if they were Black or Malfoy. Sure he goes by Black, but he has reasons for that. He thinks back to what Blaise had asked him earlier:  _ What kind of person do you want to be? _

Draco was not going to make the same mistakes. He wasn’t going to be the same fool who trusted his “family” over and over again. There has never been a good person in Draco’s family, no exceptions. His heart beat starts to slow down to a normal bpm and he tries to listen to what Lupin is saying. 

“.... legal guardian…” 

With hearing that he abruptly stands up from his seat causing the chair chair he was sitting in to clatter to the ground. He doesn’t look at Sirius...Black…. Whatever the hell his name is. Instead, he looks at Lupin.

“Lupin” He can’t manage to speak above a whisper but Lupin stops mid-word and looks at him. “Can we talk outside for a moment?” Though he phrased it as a question he didn’t wait for a response he turned and quickly walked outside the door waiting for Lupin to come out anxiously. 

“Ok I know that you’re probably very nervous and on edge right now but you need to hear me out Draco-” But Draco cuts him off before he can start defending the man sitting in there.

“No. You… You said that I could trust you and that you would be there for me and to listen to me any time I needed. And I did, do, I think, trust you. But now you bring in the person who is a direct reminder to everything I ran away from and you expect me to go with it???” Draco angrily whisper shouts at him. 

“You need a guardian Draco.”

“Why can’t you do it?” He can recognize from his voice that he is practically begging right now but he just ignores it. 

“Draco…” Lupin looks at him sadly “You know I can’t”

“Yeah, I do” He looks down at his feet kicking the nonexistent dust. “But I don’t want to be near anyone who is a Black or Malfoy ever again. They’re all evil, there are no exceptions.” 

“Draco.” Lupin's harsh tone startles him and he looks up. “are you your father?” This question catches him off guard and causes him to blink stupidly at Lupin. But Lupin just waits for some sort of response so he shakes his head ever so slightly. “Then don’t lump Sirius in with his family when you don’t know a thing about him.”

Neither of them say a word for a while

“It probably wasn’t fair of me to spring this on you.” Lupin concedes 

You could say that.

“So how about you go back to your dorm, digest this and tomorrow after your first day of classes you meet me and Sirius here for dinner and we’ll talk over stuff ok?”

Though Draco would rather never have to see that man again, he knows that it isn’t an option. Draco turns around and heads back to his dorm deep in thought. You can either run from things in life that scare you and have no hand on them when you’re forced to face them, or you can walk towards them and be able to control them to a degree. Draco decides to try and have a hold on this part of life. He won’t let his father control any part of him ever again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is from Draco’s perspective, these thoughts on eating habits is very unhealthy but to Draco he doesn’t see the issue. 
> 
> Next chapter: It’s the next day and school has started.Draco goes through his schedule taking roughly 6 classes in total. Today he has classes with Lupin, Greyback and Snape? What is his uncle doing here? After class Harry asks him what’s wrong and Draco opens up a little. Then he meets up with Lupin and Sirius for dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the next day and school has started.Draco goes through his schedule taking roughly 6 classes in total. Today he only has 3. After his classes him and Harry go out for a bit then he has lunch with Sirius and Lupin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyy. So so so SO sorry about how late this chapter is I really did mean to update but I had a lot of family issues mainly my grandfathers cancer has resurfaced and I am trying to help him with takes up some time. But my updates should be regular till I start college later this month. But as an apology I made this chapter extra long so yay. I’m sorry for any grammatical errors. Also I speak Spanish not French so forgive any errors for that too. Again sorry, enjoy chapter 6. Please leave any comment or kudos. Much love

Draco is not a morning person, at all. One of the few things that he liked about his parents, one of the few things at least...possibly the only thing, was that they let him sleep in till 10 AM. That’s one of the blessings in managing your own college schedule, you get to pick how early and often your classes are, within reason of course. His first class wasn't till 10:30. His alarm clock would go off at 10 and he would get ready and go straight to class. So, if it wouldn’t be too much, could someone explain why his dormmates were waking him up instead of his alarm clock that was literally built for that. 

Maybe if he just pulls the blankets over his head the noise will lessen and he can fall back asleep. But that option is snatched away from him. Literally. There is quite a loud rattle as someone whips open the navy curtain around his bed, and another person snatching the blankets from his hands which causes the bright light of the room to stream directly into his eyes. He releases an unhuman hiss on pure reflex and tries to burrow into his pillow. But he was jarred, again, when he felt his bed dip as someone flopped down next to him. 

“Hey, hey, hey, hey” With each hey Draco felt a finger jab into his ribs. Draco whips his head around with a fire blazing in his eyes to blurily see Harry laying next to him with a goofy grin on his. 

“What… are you doing... in my bed.” Draco scowls at him, his voice husky and still full with sleep. He returns Harry's grin with a look of hatred and a hint of homicide in his eyes.

“We do have school, you know that right?” Ron calls from where he is on his bed sorting through his backpack. 

“Yes… but some of us don’t have school till 10:30 and it is only like 9am.” But as Draco says this he loses all confidence in what he was saying being true and Ron and Blaise (who has just appeared and is leaning on his bedpost eating some pink sugary cracker thing) share a look of confusion which morphs into pity. But Harry’s grin just grows wider with this new information that Draco has disclosed. 

“Dray?” Blaise asks Draco and he brushes the crumbs off his hand onto their floor, disgusting. Honestly this is how people get mice. 

“What?” Draco hotly responds as he tries to shove Harry off of his bed but failing miserably as Harry is as solid as a brick wall and Draco is as strong as a newborn bunny. 

“Do you really think that it’s 9am” Harry directs at Draco not uncondescendingly. 

“Yes” He responds, his confidence dropping down to zero as he sits up and reaches over to grab his cell phone off of his nightstand. 

“Why don’t you take a look at your phone.” Ron says as he comes to join them.

He gives them all a questioning look as he turns on his phone and checks what the big, bold white numbers say at the top of his screen; 10:15. Exactly it’s only- WAIT

“FUCK” Draco screaches trying to launch himself off of his bed but his legs are still kind of asleep and he face plants at Blaises feet. He hears them laugh at him as he pushes himself and sprints around their dorm trying to get everything together for his class that is in... T-minus 15 minutes. 

“Why didn’t my alarm go off? It literally has one god damn job” He yells as he sorts through his drawers. He grabs whatever shirt is on the top of his drawer to wear with the pants that he slept in last night and slams the door to the bathroom to change, wash his face, and brush his teeth... at the same time. What ends up happening though is he puts face wash on his toothbrush, toothpaste on his face and his shirt is on backwards but he doesn’t have time to fix any of this. He looks and feels like an utter mess. His usually styled to perfection hair is going in every which way. And he feels like everything is at 2x speed right now.

“Oh I unplugged it.” Harry yells from somewhere outside the bathroom door. Draco halts his movements at that response and stares at himself in the mirror before screaming on the top of his lungs.

“YOU WHAT????”

“I had to plug my phone in to charge but something is wrong with my outlet and didn’t think that anyone actually uses alarm clocks because we have phones duh. I didn’t think that it was that big of a deal.”

Draco is going to be sent to jail for killing a man.

When he pulls the door open he almost runs into Ron who has an amused look on his face and a piece of fruit in his hand but before he can object Ron cuts him off.

“The other two just left for class but since my room is right next to yours I was elected to take you. Yes you’re eating this, no I don’t care if you don’t usually don’t eat breakfast you are too underweight.You can kill Harry during your English class but we need to leave now, come one”

Draco feels like he was just scolded by his mother. Not his actual mother, but like a caring mom scolding their kid that they genuinely care about. Glancing at his phone he sees that it’s 10:22, shit. He runs to his bed fixing his shirt as he goes, grabs his bag, splashes water on his face, and throws his jacket on as they scurry out the door. 

Ron: speed walking, Draco: Running and taking a bit out of the furry, sweet, round fruit. 

“So I know where your first class is, but what is it?”

He swallows down the rest to his makeshift breakfast and tosses it into the trashcan they pass.

“Some history teacher who, according to my schedule, goes by Mr.S,

* * *

Draco steps through the threshold of the classroom literally panting at 10:27. Well, to be truthful he stumbles and falls across the classroom doorway panting at 10:27. So far it’s not the worst start to his day, but definitely the worst first day of school he’s had. Not that he has a lot to compare it to. He hopes that there was no one in the room when he made a ruckus coming in, as he wasn’t able to get a look because… the crash. But he is soon given his answer when a pair of black short boots come into his view, one of them tapping impatiently. First impressions are a bitch Draco thinks to himself as he stands up and looks at whoever is standing in front of him.

Good thing this isn’t a first impression though. 

“A little birdy told me that someone overslept and was running late to class:” Ginny regarded him with a humorous look on her face.

“Well I would have been on time if my alarm had gone off at the time that I set it before I went to bed last night.”

“And why didn’t it go off?”

“Because Harry unplugged my alarm clock”

“Why don’t you just use your phone as-” Ginny starts to answer him with a curious tone seeping into her speech but stops when Draco delivers her a fierce glare and she purses her lip so as to not laugh at him.

“Don’t even get me started on that.” He breathes out a sigh of exhaustion and a pleading look. “Can you just show me where I should sit.” 

Ginny rolls her eyes at him but neither less turns around and gestures for him to follow her. The classroom is, to say the least, boring. There are no posters, no signs, no personal items of any kind in here. The only thing that Draco sees in the chalk board (what century are they in?) has the words “ **_WORLD HISTORY 103”_ ** . The handwriting though… Draco is quickly pulled out of his thoughts, literally. Ginny grabs his hand and yanks him into the seat next to her. He looks at her startled and now even more on edge.

“Sorry, I know you don’t like being touched and I’ll try not to do it again. But my brother and his friends told me that this teacher is a piece of work and starts class EXACTLY on time and will kick anyone out not sitting in their seat.” Ginny rushes out in one breath honestly looking like she felt a little bit bad. But right as he opened his mouth to ask who exactly this “piece of work teacher is” , the door of the classroom swings open and is just as quickly shut as the teacher enters. All Draco can make out of his outfit as he swiftly walks across the classroom is his long black coat that floats behind him as he walks.

“I do know anyone of your names, nor will I store them to memory unless you aren’t totally incompetent which I assume most of you are.”

Wait a minute.

“If you do not have the materials at this time or anytime in the future that are needed to be successful in this class, leave right now as to not waste my time.”

Draco knows that voice, he’d recognize it anywhere.

“If you are not sitting in your assigned seat, where you are right now, by the time I walk in at exactly 10:30 am, you will either be locked out of my classroom or kicked out.”

But it can’t be, that’s impossible

“You are allowed to miss 3 classes this semester, if you miss anyone more than that you will be kicked out of the class and I expect to be notified as soon as humanly possible or else we will be discussing it one on one, and that’s never good in your case.”

His parents told him he died.

“This is world history 103”

But the voice, stature, hair, walk… Draco thinks as he sees his teacher turn around.

“And I am your professor Snape”

Fils de pute.*

* * *

Draco's heart is beating so fast that he is slightly worried that it is going to burst out of his chest. He can hear and see his fellow classmates either typing or writing notes as fast as humanly possible. He can hear a distant murmur of their professor, his god father who he thought up until 75 minutes ago was dead…. talking, but it’s all white noise to him. All he can hear is the same 2 words going over and over again in his head getting louder and louder.

He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive. 

Draco is brought out of his one consecutive thought after an extended amount of time when he hears Ginny knock on his desk causing him to blink hard and break his eye contact from his hand to her face.

“I didn’t touch you this time.” Though the way Ginny says it could be misconstrued as a joke her face says that she's worried about something. Probably something that Snape said during class that he missed. “Come on, we’re the only ones left in the room and I want to grab something to eat before we have to go to our next class.”

He stands up and grabs his belongings off of his desk. As he starts to follow Ginny out of the room he hears someone call to him, the only other person that’s in the room with them.

“Glad to see that you’re awake Mr.-”

“Black” Draco blurts out of his mouth before Snape can call him by the wrong name and therefore exposing his real identity in front of Ginny.

“Black?” 

“Yes, Black sir.” And though Draco spoke only slightly above a whisper as fear gripped his heart, he spoke confidently. And he looked up. He looked into Snape's eyes for the first time in years. They were still that muted blue color but he couldn’t find the warmth that he had grown accustomed to finding safety in when he would visit him as a child at the manor. But they weren’t at the manor, and Draco was no longer a child. 

“Was that all sir?” They keep looking at each other, and though he can’t find that warmth that Snape once provided for him, it’s not cold either. It’s…. Draco doesn't know to be quite honest. 

“No Mr.Black, that is all. Do try to be more attentive in class from now on, I would hate for you to fall behind and have those who you call family be disappointed in you.” With that Snape breaks their staring game and puts all his attention to whatever he is reading on his laptop. Draco doesn’t waste a second. He ignores that ping that is still gripping to his heart, especially after that last comment, scurries up to Ginny and drags her out of the room not looking back but feeling Snape's eyes boring into the back of his head. 

* * *

Ginny is a goddess. Draco has come to this conclusion as he sips on the large coffee with about a pound of sugar and blueberry fritter that she bought for him as he waits for his next class to start. Despite the way his morning began, (you know finding out your dead godfather isn’t in fact dead) he was feeling pretty good right now. That was probably due to the coffee and fritter. 

He had arrived 10 minutes early to class so that he could feel calm and collected for the beginning of his Communications based class. But as he sits here he realizes that this is the first time, since he’s got off of the train, that he has a moment to himself. And he’s able to reflect really, he did it. He escaped his hell and has started a life on his own, away from them all. And though it hasn’t been as smooth as he would have like, as in not at all, he’s happy with it. 

The issue coming up though is that he can’t just run away from certain issues and not deal with them. He wonders if he can talk with Lupin about maybe, possibly, seeing if there is someone who he can trust and talk about stuff. On the topic of Lupin, Draco remembers what he said about this teacher and this class. He had met “Professor” Greyback for a couple minutes but the reaction and warning that Lupin gave was only very slightly alarming. 

He just needs to focus on his class work right now. Despite everything from the past couple days, he came here to start a new life for himself. But he can only do that if he is successful in school and that includes this class. The good thing about this class is that it is small, as in there seem to only be like 12 other students here. He remembers that when he was showing his schedule to Ron he’d told him the speech class that he’s in is offered at a bunch of other high schools so most people have already taken it. So that means that it should be easy… hopefully. 

As he ponders this their teacher walks in, similar and yet the total opposite of how Snape walked in. Snape gracefully entered the room snapping the door open and closed but never breaking stride. Greyback grunts through the door banging it on the cabinet and shutting it but failing on the first try, if Draco didn't know better he’d think that he’s drunk. Where Snape moved swiftly, elegantly, and with purpose across the room Greyback stops across grumbling and slamming his bag onto his desk. 

“This is Speech, if you’re here that means you’re an idiot because you either A) didn’t take it even though you had the opportunity last year to or B) you didn’t and that makes you even more dumb. You will refer to me by only Professor Greyback. Understood- Don’t talk, just nod your heads.” He surveys the students one by one with a bored expression on his face, “I do expect us to have quite a bor-” until his eyes land on Draco. He gives a smirk that shows off his yellowing crooked teeth. “- on second thought I think that we should have a very interesting semester just ourselves. Let's begin class.” 

Why can’t Draco not be the center of everyone's attention, especially this one? He did have a feeling that Greback was right, they would have an interesting year.

There’s never a dull moment in the life of Draco apparently. 

* * *

Draco listened to music as he wandered through the halls on his way to his last class of the day with Lupin. There’s good news and to be determined news regarding this class. The good news is that for this class, since he’s taking a higher level english course, he does know someone in it, unlike speech. The to be determined news is that that person is Harry. 

Draco doesn’t think that that’s bad news per say. The other night when they were out at the pub it seemed like Harry was an actual human person. But after this morning and Draco almost having to go to jail for killing a man, he realizes that his opinion on Harry is still to be determined. There’s another issue with Harry, he can’t figure out what he wants out of him.

Draco knows that everyone in life, no matter how nice and sincere they seem, they always have ulterior motives. This includes even Blaise and Lupin. They don’t always have to have selfish motives (but to when aren’t they besides those two?) What he means by this is simple. When Lupin talks with him Draco can already tell that he is motivated by a need to make Draco feel like he can talk to him, which isn’t malicious but kind which Draco (though he’d never admit it) appreciates. But he can also tell that Lupin is motivated by the pity that he feels when talking to Draco, which he doesn’t appreciate. Blaise is similar to Lupin, he is motivated by his need to have Draco trust him but also the need to tease him. But he doesn’t do it in a belittling way that his Aun-. No, just Bella Used to. It reminds him of the way that friends would tease each other in the books that he used to read. Maybe this is just how friends work.Draco wouldn’t know though because Blaise is the first friend he’s ever made. He’s getting off topic. Those two have overall positive, caring, and good motives regarding Draco. But not everyone does. Narcissa’s motive was to control him in every way humanly possible making every decision for him. Bella’s motive was to verbally tear him apart until he was a shell of a person to make herself feel better. His father’s motive: to destroy the old Draco and replace him with his own custom made perfect Draco that he’s created through his actions both verbally and physically. 

Everyone has motives in life, especially when it comes to why people tolerate and associate themselves with Draco the only question is what is Harrys?

He realises that if he keeps going down this train of thought he is going to either go insane or…. Nope that’s it, he’ll go insane. So he just turns his music up to try and have it down out his intrusive thoughts. 

_ Just go blow out the candles, oh little boy when will you learn _

_ You don’t play with fire unless you want to get burned, wanna get burned  _

_ Just blow out the candles, oh how the tables they turned _

_ You don’t play with fire unless you want to get burned, wanna get burned _

__ Ok, so this was not the best song to be listening to when he is going through the rabbit hole of thoughts. But what if you don’t have a choice? What if you have to play with fire and you don’t know what the result will be? You don’t know how burned you’ll get. You can be hoping for just the feeling right then and there where there are no lasting effects but you know realistically that’s not the case. But being burned and damaged is better than the alternative result if you take no risks.

_ You didn't blow out the candles Oh, little boy, you'll never learn _

_ You don't play with fire But you're already burned You're already burned _

_ Blow out the candles Oh, little boy, you'll never learn _

_ You don't play with fire But you're already burned You're already burned _

* * *

There is a secret blessing with wearing headphones that mainly introverts, shy, and anxious people recognize and will take advantage of. It’s the unspoken rule with everyone that if someone has headphones on they are either vibing, want to be left alone, or both. This is clear to everyone but Harry apparently.

As soon as Draco rounds the corner to Lupin's classroom he is bombarded by Harry moving his mouth a mile a minute. Talking must be his “gift” to the world. Draco just looked up at him with a look of amusement, his headphones still blasting music, till Harry realized that Draco couldn’t hear him. He moves his hand casually about to remove Draco’s headphones from his ear but stops midway and looks at Draco asking for his permission to continue. Surprisingly for both he nods his head and Harry lowers the headphones to around Dracos neck. 

“So now that you aren’t being so blatantly rude and ignoring me.” He turns around to grab something from his bag but whatever it is Draco doesn’t want it. This boy causes Dracos day to be in complete and utter disarray because of his stupidity and he has the nerve to call him RUDE? Unreal. He didn’t even apologize about this morning. 

But when Harry turns back around Draco freezes all movement and thoughts. In Harrys hands is a whole ass kitten. Yeah, Draco doesn’t know how to respond. He opens and closes his mouth trying to talk about 15 times but nothing comes out, he is a human depiction of a fish right now. 

“I know I was kind of a dick this morning, with the whole alarm clock thing and not doing anything to help you cause it was kind of- no it was all my fault. And I know that that probably didn’t help with your first day of college and moving halfway across the world or whatever on your own. And I know you are probably really nervous and stressed and I saw, DON’T YELL AT ME IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I SWEAR! But I saw that your screensaver for both your phone and your laptop is different pictures of you with the same cat. So I knew that I couldn’t have gone wrong with one. So since this is the only class of the day I went to the animal store that someone that I know owns, I can take you there some time, and I got you a I’m sorry but also welcome but also I can sometimes be a dick but please don’t count me out yet, gift.” 

With that he thrusts the kitten to Draco who is still kind of in shock but finally blinks and moves when he feels the fur rub against his hand. He looks at the kitten and as he carefully takes it from Harry his heart melts. The kitten can not be more than a couple pounds, they have the softest and prettiest white fur he has ever seen. 

“I thought that we aren’t allowed to have pets?” Draco forces himself to tear his eyes away from them to look at Harry.

“Well we aren’t”

Draco’s heart drops and his already fair completion pales.

“Usually! We aren't allowed to have pets USUALLY!” He rushes out when he sees Draco’s reaction. “But I went to the headmaster and got special permission for you to keep her as long as you take care of her.”

“Her?” Draco asks Harry quietly as he continues to pet her gently.

“Yeah it’s a girl. But since we have class in a couple minutes and my god dad will have my ass if he finds out I was late to my only class today, why don’t you give her back to me I’ll put her back in my bag. Don’t worry she’s safe and good in there got a special little spot for her to nap for the period. And then after, if you want that is, I can take you to a store in the town to buy some stuff for her before dinner.”He notes that for the first time that Harry seems kind of nervous as he plays with his bracelet eyes bouncing between Draco and the kitten. 

“Yeah, that would be nice Harry. How about we head into class so Lupin doesn’t yell at us.”

“Oh please I don’t think Lupin has ever yelled at anyone in his life.” With that cool, calm, sarcastic, no fucks to give Harry is back and Draco is honestly a little disappointed by that. But nonetheless he follows Harry into their shared class.

* * *

Apparently Harry knew about every single person in their class and Draco knew this because when they were walking in and taking their seats every single person in the room came up to Harry to say hi to him. To be fair it was only like 12 other people in the class but it’s the principal of the thing. But what surprises him is that Harry, who he assumes from their limited interactions is that he likes to be the center of attention but he just nods at them and tries to start small talk with Draco.

Is he meeting a whole different person right now?

They take their seats in the front of the class which Draco does not appreciate but Harry assures him that they can’t sit anywhere else. And Draco has no choice but to accept Harry’s choice because Lupin bursts out of the door of his office into his classroom. 

“Welcome everyone to Fiction 207. My name is Professor Lupin but I prefer my students to just call me Lupin. But I think you all know that because it seems that I have taught or met all of you at least once. Today we are not going to be doing any reading, we’ll be starting that later in the week so if you don’t have the book yet you should make sure to get it as soon as possible. Today we are going to be going over the curriculum, some basic team building stuff and all that. Now this may seem very ‘grammar school’ to you but I think that it’s necessary for us to get to know each other a little bit to feel comfortable with everyone.”

Draco was very confused right now and he was pretty sure his confusion was written all over his face because he saw Harry looking over at him chuckling slightly. As Lupin started to head over a student to talk with her about something Harry leaned over to talk to Draco. 

“What are you thinking about that has your face all contorted like that pretty boy?”

“What is team building stuff?”

“ Have you never done a team building game before? Not for school? Camps? With friends?” Draco gets the feeling that this… thing, is something that everyone knows about and has done numerous times and he’s starting to feel quite self conscious.

“No I haven’t. Don’t you remember? When we were all talking the other day I have been homeschooled most of my life and my experience with friends has been-”

“Has been what Draco?” He regards Draco with an interested wondering look.

“Has been nonexistent until now.” He looks up and neither of them say anything. Harry has a blank expression on his face, it would be completely unreadable if it wasn’t for his eyes. The eyes give everything away. He can tell that Harry is forcing himself to not react but he feels a certain way about what Draco just said. He just can’t tell which way.

“Team building games are games that you play with a group of people to try and form a sort of bond with I guess. A lot of the time teachers and different work places will do it with their students or workers to get them used to and comfortable with each other. Sometimes their literal games when you hold hands or you call fall into each other and shit. I have a feeling though Lupin will just be answering questions about ourselves and random stuff so I wouldn’t worry too much.” 

Draco now worrying? Not possible. 

Lupin has started walking around the room putting a piece of paper on each students desk. He tells them to answer the questions on the paper and then they’re going to take turns reading out their answers for different questions. The way he says it sounds easy enough, just answer the questions. The problem is that he doesn’t know how to answer some of these questions. Zodiac sign? Preferred pronouns? What does that even mean** Favorite hobby? He could technically answer that but it was complicated. Favorite movie? Favorite book? He could answer that one. Favorite family member? … That’s just rude.

As Draco stresses and ponders over answering these questions he feels Harry lightly tap his shoulder.

“Why are you stressing out now Blondie?” Draco thinks that Harry should stop being surprised by his stressing and just accept that it’s going to be a regular thing.

“I can’t answer these.” Draco mumbles 

“What do you mean of course you can. They’re nothing too personal so I wouldn’t worry about exposing yourself too much. Here. How about you tell me what to write and I’ll write it.” He grabs the paper off of Draco’s desk and puts it on top of his own fully written paper. 

“No, I don’t know how to answer them. I don’t know what a Zodiac is, or what the second one is supposed to mean. My mother didn’t let me have hobbies growing up, everything I did was through her wish so I don’t think I can pick a favorite. I’ve never seen a movie but I do have a favorite book so I guess I can answer that one. Favorite family member...no.” 

It wasn’t until they were sitting in silence staring at each other that Draco realized how much of himself he just exposed to Harry. He’d never opened up before. Lupin knows a little because of him breaking down and Blaise knows even less because god knows how, But Harry knows just because Draco told him. 

“Well, that’s a lot to unpack. But for right now let's just come up with some answers together ok? When’s your birthday?” 

“Why?" Apparently they are playing 20 questions today.

“I need to know your birthday to figure out your astrological sign which is your zodiac sign. If you still don’t get it I’ll explain it at a later date.” Harry responds with a tired sigh.

“Oh, well I think that I was born sometime in the fall? But I’m not sure” Draco tries to think hard of anytime that his parents might have mentioned the day that he was born but he can’t recall one time. 

“What do you mean? Have you never celebrated your birthday?” Harry gazes at him with his eyes the size of saucers. But Draco just shakes his head not knowing what else he can say. Harry takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling as he mumbles something under his breath to quiet for Draco to hear. “Ok. So scrap that plan because apparently I’m going to have to explain a lot of stuff to you- which is ok, I’m fine with that. If Lupin calls on you to answer, just read off of my sheet and we’ll go over what these things actually are later.”

Though Draco is thankful that Harry is basically his savior right now because if he wasn’t here he has no idea what he would do, he is also aware that he is either going to have to lie to Harry even though he’s been nothing but kind to him the past hour, or tell him the truth which could be worse. 

* * *

Class went by uneventful which was all that Draco could wish for. Once everyone had finished answering their sheets Lupin went around the room to share the answer for 2 of the questions and explain one of them. Draco had semi explained his favorite book one but had stolen Harry’s answer for what his zodiac sign is. 

But now they were talking to this pet store that Harry mentioned before. He has the kitten snuggled on his chest under his jacket and Harry next to him as they walk in silence. If you looked at both of their faces you could tell that they wanted to say something but neither knew where to start so it was just silent. 

“So… I know that you don’t know me at all and I can be a right dick a lot of the time so you don’t owe me anything. But I have to ask about what happened in class today. And again you don’t have to talk about it with me, you can talk about it with Lupin or Blaise. I know you’re closeish with them. But if you did I wouldn’t say a word to anyone I swear Draco.”

“I want to believe what you’re saying is true Harry, I really do but you keep jumping back and forth between honest to god top grade asshole and genuine nice caring person. Like I’m getting whiplash from it. How do I honestly know that I can trust you?” 

Draco talks before he can stop himself. These kinds of things, his mouth, is what used to get him in trouble back at the manor. He would say things like this and then his father, or whoever, would get mad and retaliate. But Harry didn’t look mad, well Draco couldn’t tell to be honest cause Harry was looking to the side at something. 

“How about this, I’ll tell you something only a select few people know about me as a trade. So we both have shit on each other.” Harry said this with a ‘I have zero fucks’ attitude but Draco could tell that he was trying to force his calmness for Draco. None the less he nodded his consent to this deal. 

They round the corner and they enter this little store with a sign that says “Meow, Woof, and tweet”, wow… that’s dumb. He looked up at Harry, his eyebrow arching up waiting for him to explain.

“Yeah, I know the name sucks. Leave Hagrid alone, he tries his best.” Harry answers as he holds the door open to walk into the shop. Before he can ask him who this Hagrid is though he gets his answer, or so he assumes. 

A giant man runs towards them. He has loooong black curly hair that blends into his beard. He’s wearing a tan colored trench coat and bulky black boots. His booming voice calls out to Harry. Draco, feeling like a dwarf compared to this Hagrid ducks under Harry’s arm and hides behind him. 

“Harry!! It’s so nice to see you for the second time today. How’s that little kitten treating you? I hope he’s behaving. And who is this gentlemen hiding behind you? I hope I didn’t scare him.”

You most certainly did sir.

“Hagrid, this is Draco, the one who I bought the kitten for. He’s a little shy though so we’ll just show ourselves around the store and I’ll let you know if I need any help.” Not waiting for a response he grabs Draco’s hand and pulls him away with him. “Sorry about that, Hagrid can be a little much sometimes. Now where were we.”

“About to share secrets so that we can black mail each other.” Draco responded without missing a beat as he picked up a toy and held it for the kitten to sniff and see if she liked. He really needed to pick a name. 

“Ah that’s right, I’m assuming you want me to go first no matter. Let me think… Ok I got it. I’m an orphan, but most people already know that. What they don’t know is that though all the news articles reported it as a regular break in it was actually a planned out homicide orchestrated by a leader of this hate group. So as a baby I spent my time bouncing from house to house in foster care till my god parent could get guardianship over me when I was 12.”

What the fuck do you say to that?

“I think that that’s pretty good blackmail material for you to ensure that whatever you tell me won’t leave my lips only about 5 other people know what I told you. Here take this it’s great for cats.” He handed him a mini cat climbing tree. 

“Where do you want me to start?” Draco asks Harry quietly as he crouches down and lets his kitten stretch and walk between them sniffing different things as they go.

“How about today you just give me your answers for the questions from the worksheets. That’s not too hard right?”

“I guess not…” Draco takes a deep breath as he tries to gather all of his courage to tell Harry what he needs to know. “ To start off with, I don’t really understand the whole birthday thing, that’s just the date that you were born right? Because if that’s the case then I don’t know because my parents never told me.”

“But what about birthdays? Did you ever celebrate those?” But Draco just shakes his head at him. “Ok then quick crash course on zodiac signs. Birthdays, at least in our culture, are celebrated through parties. Once a year on the day that you are born your family throws you a party with cake, balloons, games, presents and they invite friends and family. Zodiac signs are these things that correlate with when you were born and there are 12 signs. Depending on what your sign is it will tell you things about your personality and can kind of forewarn for the future I guess. Does that make sense?”

Draco nodded trying to take all of that information in, it wasn’t anything too crazy or what not it was more that he was understanding that his parents had taken yet another thing from him without him ever knowing. 

“So preferred pronouns is a thing of human decency and respect to other people. I’m assuming from your look of confusion you’re not homophobic or anything but you just dead ass don’t know what these things are. We can explain more of the community later-”

Community?

“- but let's just start with pronouns. So you identify with you the sex that you were assigned at birth I’m assuming male right?”

“Y-y-yeah, I guess? I mean I am a man..” Draco stutters over Harry’s question not really understanding.

“Ok well some people don’t, some people are trans which means their assigned gender, sex whatever doesn’t match with who they actully are. Or some people don't identify as either and they go by they, them pronouns. There are so many more but the thing to get away from this is that if someone tells you their pronouns you use them no questions asked, got it?” Harry gives Draco a stern look leaving no room for debate or rebuttal on that matter so he just nods.”

“Now it’s your turn pretty boy to answer why you couldn’t give an answer to all those other questions. Why can’t you pick a favorite hobby? Even if you were the most sheltered or sheltered there must have been things you enjoyed doing.” And it’s now or never. Either Draco comes up with this BS story on the spot or he tells Harry the truth.

“It’s my mom” He whispers

“Your mom? She’s not even here, what does she have to do with anything?”

So the truth it is.

“When I was growing up I didn’t get to do anything for myself, it was nice at first. People cooked for me, cleaned, picked things up that my parents approved of, etcetera. But the appeal of it faded, it wasn’t that they wanted to help me out, it’s that they wanted to control me. I couldn’t cough without my mother knowing. She would tell me what to do at all times: read, work on my studies, exercise, sleep, take a walk in the garden. Anything I did was because she approved it. She even told me what my favorite things were. My favorite food, hobby, song. The only thing she let me decide was what I wanted to read from our library. So I don’t know what my favorite hobby is because I’ve never been allowed to make my own opinions.” Draco doesn’t look up from fluffy. No, that’s not her name… too basic. 

“Draco. Draco. Draco. HEY!!” He tears his eyes away from the unnamed kitten and looks up at Harry who regards him with a look of indifference. But it’s not natural, it’s a rehearsed one as if he’s showing Draco what he thinks he wants to see. “That may not be normal and honestly quite alarming but hey, who has a family life that isn’t a little alarming. Also, there is nothing for you to be ashamed of ok? This is on your mother being an over controlling… person. And I’m assuming that the rest of your family wasn’t much better?” Draco just shakes his head not knowing what to say. “And that’s probably why you don’t have a favorite family member, but that’s ok. I mean not what they did, you only told me a tiny bit but I assume there’s a lot more fucked up shit that they did.”

You have no idea. 

“And that’s why you left, I’m assuming you wanted to get away from whatever shit they were trying to pull. I don’t blame you. But now it’s up to you to meet new people and learn to trust and make your own family. Now I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m not saying you gotta do it now but you gotta stop being so scared buddy. No one here is going to hurt the way your parents did. Ok?” 

“No” Draco responds so quietly that he’s surprised that Harry even heard him but from the look of shock on his face Draco can tell that he did.

“What?”

“No, you don’t get to tell me to stop being scared. You don’t even know what I’m scared of. You tell me to open up and you’ll listen to me but then you pass your judgement on things that you know nothing about. I don’t want to be scared, I didn’t want to experience what I did but that doesn’t matter because I am and I did. I can’t not change 16 years of my life just because you demand it.” He stares at Harry trying his best to look intimidating but knowing that that’s almost impossible with him sitting on the ground with a kitten in his lap playing with their soon to be new toy.

“I didn’t mean it like- Ok that came out wrong. I try to be nice and smart but as Hermione would say: stupidity is incurable. Ok let me rephrase that before you beat me up, or storm off or something- Which you would have a right to do just to clarify.” He takes a deep stressful breath his face giving away how stressed he is with what he should say next. Draco would laugh if the situation was different. 

“When I say don’t be scared I know that you can’t just stop a feeling because you don’t like it, that’s not how it works. It’ll take time, effort and maybe some hellp. What I meant is that you don’t need to be scared anymore. You don’t have a reason to be worried or scared of what people might do because you’re safe. And I know you don't see it yet and you’ll need time to get used to all of us, but we can and will help you in any way that we can. You don’t need to be scared because we’ll protect you. You aren’t alone anymore.And maybe you don’t believe us now and you need time. Well, just you wait we got plenty of that. We’re not going anywhere. You’re one of us now.”

Draco looks up and smiles a little bit after Harry’s whole speech. Do these guys just practice giving moving emotional speeches to people everyday or was Draco just special? 

“Do I even get a say in this?” Draco asks playfully.

“Nope, come on let's head back to the dorm.” So they go to the register, pay and then head out of the store. “Did you ever come up with a name for the cat yet? We can’t keep calling her kitten or cat.”

“Yeah, her name is Lyra.” Draco says as he strokes her fur and heads back to Hogwarts. 

* * *

Take 2 Draco thought as he stood outside of Lupin's office. He had his dinner in hand which was given to Blaise when Draco insisted he wasn’t that hungry. Blaise had mumbled something in another language at him and told him that if he didn’t eat all of it he’d wake up Draco at 7am everyday for the rest of the month. So he just took the food. 

Draco had already had a long day and it wasn’t even over yet. All he wants to do is lay in his bed as he falls asleep listening to music. But he told Lupin that he’d join him and Sirius for dinner today after the trainwreck that was yesterday. So here he is.

It’s only for dinner and maybe just MAYBE this Sirius Black person isn’t as bad as he assumes he is. Also for some odd reason he trusts Lupin and if this goes to shit he’ll make Blaise help him get revenge. With that he takes a deep breath and opens the door. As soon as he walks into the room he sees the two of them in a very heated argument over something, hopefully not about Draco. But as soon as they see him they stop arguing and Lupin’s usual smile quickly covers the glare that was just directed at Sirius. 

“Draco I’m glad that you could make it, how was your day? I hope all of your classes went well?” Lupin asks as Draco sits down at the seat next to him, across from Sirius. 

“It was a lot to be honest but I guess my day was fine? Better than usual?”

“That’s great to hear. Now where were we yesterday?”

“You told the kid that I’m his legal guardian and that I’m also a Black and he lost his goddamn mind.” Sirius responds for Draco staring at him unblinking. “Did you perceive it as another way? Draco was it?” Draco just nods his head and looks down to see what he brought for dinner so he doesn’t have to look at either of them. 

“Sirius” Lupin scolds him harshly. They stare at each other having a silent conversation as Draco just watches them as he nibbles on his saltine crackers. 

“So, was there a reason that you guys wanted me to come back today or is this just going to turn into another argument where one of us, probably me, storms out.” Draco comments quietly interrupting their intense staring contest. 

Sirius gives him a calculating look that makes him sweat. Then Sirius’s face breaks into a smile and laughs. “Ok that’s fair enough kid.”

“How about we start by introducing ourselves to each other and see that there is more to us than just our surnames. Does that sound good Draco?”

“How come I don’t get an opinion on this?” 

“Because my- Sirius” That’s suspicious Draco noted “You are a grown ass man and the legal guardian here and this meeting isn’t even for you. It’s for Draco so he can feel at least semi comfortable with your crazy ass.” Draco has to take a sip from this fizzy drink that Blaise had packed for him to hide his smile. Lupin winks at him to show ‘I’m on your side’ which he appreciates. “I know that both of you know me but how about I’ll start: My name is Remus Lupin I teach a variety of classes here at Hogwarts. I run the newspaper club. I am too old to be putting up with his-” He gestures towards Sirius “-nonsense. I have not talked with my parents since I was 14. I am allergic to pineapple.” 

That was a very generic statement about himself, Draco can do that.

“Now it’s your guys turns.”

“Sirius, how about you go, and do please try and act like an adult for once.” Lupin looks at him with pleading eyes.

“Now you know I can’t promise that Moony.” What is it with these people and having about 5,000 nicknames? “So as we have discussed my name is Sirius Black, please don’t leave.” Badly attempting to get Draco to smile but cuts it off when he catches the glare that Lupin is shooting at him. “ Ok then. I am a professor here also I teach astronomy which I believe I have you for. I am in charge of the boxing club here. I have not talked to or seen anyone in my biological family since I was kicked out of the house when I was 12 and I am allergic to shellfish.”

Despite that only being a tiny bit of information and Draco only having known Sirius for less than 24 hours he knows more about him then any other family member which is a positive check for him in Draco’s book. But, he is still a Black. 

“Ok Draco now it’s your turn to share. Don’t feel pressured to say anything that would make you uncomfortable. Only things that you’d want us to know ok?” Lupin reassures him.

“But I told him I was kicked out.” Sirius objects childishly winking at Draco when he hears a laugh escape him. 

“I swear to Jesus if you don’t shut up I will throw a book at you.” Lupin threatens Sirius. “Whenever you’re comfortable Draco.”

“So um I’m Draco as you both know.” He can feel both pairs of eyes looking at him as he’s talking and listening to him but just looks down at his hands in his lap. “I’m 17 years old, I am a freshman here. I’m trying to get a major in communications and english.I don’t talk with my parents anymore and I don’t plan to. I have a kitten named Lyra that Harry gave me today, that’s something about me that’s not horrible or sad. And I’m allergic to dogs and coconut.” 

He looks up then at the two of them. He sees Lupin rubbing his temples with his eyes closed and Sirius just has a giant smile on his face. 

“What? What did I say?” He goes over what he just said looking for something that he said that would warrant this response. 

“Harry got you a kitten?” Lupin asks as he opens his eyes.

“Yeah her name is Lyra.”

“Of course he did.” Mumbles Lupin.

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“No, just...why?”

“Oh he unplugged my alarm clock and I was almost late because of him so he got her as an apology.” He clarifies.

“That sounds like Harry.” Sirius chuckles before getting serious. “But dogs and coconut is what you’re allergic to? There are no other important medical conditions or things in general that me or Remus should be aware of for your safety?”

Now he could lie or tell the truth.

“No Professor Black.”

Lie it is then.

“Bud just call me Sirius all my students do.” Draco just nods in response.

“OK great, how about we enjoy our dinner then we will release you so that you can go play with Lyra and hopefully not kill Harry.”

Draco nods as he unpacks the rest of his small lunch which contains some crackers, a fizzy drink, and a little case of pasta. For the rest of dinner he just listens to the other two talk/bicker joining in every once and awhile. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Son of a bitch in French   
> ** I want to mention that I mean no disrespect by this, as a non binary individual I know how important it is that people refer to you as the correct pronouns. When Draco is thinking this he just doesn’t understand what the means because he was never taught or educated about the LGBT community
> 
> Next chapter: Draco’s second day of school is just as interesting as the last. More fluff and less “serious”


	7. Screw numbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaise takes Draco to this coffee shop near their campus for breakfast. It’s the second day of school and Draco’s second round of classes with Tonks teaching math and Sirius teaching astrology. Draco is shit at math, much like your author.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys here is the next chapter to be honest it’s not my favorite but hopefully y’all will like. Also I start college this coming monday and I start working so I’ll update when I can but it won’t be as often. Kudos and comments make me smile, enjoy.

Lyra is very cute, the cutest thing that Draco has ever seen in his life. The fact that she is this cute is the only thing that is stopping him from chucking her across the room as he walks across his face waking him up too early. He opens his eyes as he feels a tiny fluffy paw press into his cheek. Draco closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep ignoring the pressure from Lyra on his face, but she won’t allow that. She moves to sit on his rib cage and proceeds to meow to get his attention. 

“I’m up I’m up.” He whispers quietly as he sits up rubbing his eyes. 7:45 am, yeah this is too early. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed still trying to wake up. Mornings are for sleep, sleep until 10am. Nothing should ever happen before 10am. Lyra comes up next to him and purrs as she rubs against his right side. “Yeah, yeah. What do you want food? Milk? Give me a minute, I don’t like getting up early. I’m not a morning person. You should have seen me yesterday. That was something.” 

With that he gently pulls his blinds apart to not rattle them out of respect for his roommates and heads toward their kitchen. When he reaches their tiny kitchen he spots a coffee machine that one of them must have bought yesterday and he thanks whichever mystery roommate it was. He feels Lyra trying to claw at his ankle to get his attention, but in order to claw you gotta have claws and she’s too small to have grown any yet. He takes pity on her and lifts her up and places her carefully on his shoulder as she meows at him. 

“Shhh” He whispers, moving his gaze from her to the brewing coffee, but she ignores him and though her meow is very quiet his anxiety is heightening. “You’re going to wake the rest of them up. I will get you food when I have had some coffee and not a second before.”

“Too late for that.” Draco hears a gruff voice say right next to him.

“Merde sacree” Draco exclaims as he jumps 3 feet in the air and at least 5 feet away from the voice, clutching Lyra off his shoulder and to his chest so that she doesn’t fall down to the ground. When his panic finally settles he squints and is able to see who scared him, the person who is now hunched over covering his mouth to muffle their laughter. Blaise.

“I didn’t mean to scare you Drake.” Blaise whispers at him not taking the glare that Draco is sending his way seriously at all. “Are you sure you want that kind of coffee? Like it’s ok if you are in a rush, but we have a couple hours before classes start.” Blaise whispers to him as he pushes himself to sit on the counter swinging his legs around wildly. 

“What would be another option? I don’t know if you remember, but I don’t know where anything in this school or town is.” Draco tries to turn back to his coffee but Blaise rolls his eyes and grabs Draco's hand dragging him away from the kitchen area to his bed. 

“Go put something on for the day and grab your wallet. I am going to show you the best coffee shop in the town. I’d tell you to leave you kitten- You really gotta tell me that story again cause I just can’t accept that Harry just bought you an animal and that’s it. But yeah, hurry up I need caffeine.”   


* * *

A lazy grin spreads across Draco’s face as he breathes in the sweet smell that exudes from the coffee mug that’s nestled in his hands. Blaise laughs at him as he takes a bite out of his breakfast sandwich. They are sitting in the outside seating area enjoying the peaceful morning. Blaise is wearing a long sleeve black turtleneck and black pants with silver chains attached to it. Draco is wearing black jeans with a striped long sleeve sweater and Lyra is sitting quietly purring in his lap. Draco loves September because it’s the beginning autumn which means it’s the perfect weather to wear jackets and the colors of the world are just so beautiful. 

“So he just bought you a kitten to say he was sorry?” Blaise asks him talking very slowly as if each word confuses him.

“That’s what he said.” Draco answers, slightly annoyed for having to repeat himself for the 15th time in a row. 

“No, that doesn’t make any sense. Harry doesn’t buy things randomly for people, he’s not the kind of person. He is the broke college student. Boy probably owes at least 1,000 dollars in lunch, coffee and just random fees. He doesn’t have money, nor the desire to spend exorbitant amounts of money on people he just met.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. That’s what happened.” Draco averts his eyes to look away feeling small in Blaise’s disbelieving look.

“No there’s something you’re not telling me…”

“I’m telling you everything, why would I keep anything from you? You’re my friend. I need your help with people and things.” Draco eyes look around rapidly trying to find something to look at other than Blaise’s face. But then suddenly a giant grin and look of glee crosses Blaise’s face.

“Oh you like him.”

“What?” Leave it to Blaise to come up with these ridiculous conclusions. “That’s ridiculous, honestly I don’t know how you come up with these crazy theories.” 

“OH you definitely like him. There’s no way you would have this reaction if I was wrong.” Blaise barely gets out before he starts cracking up. “This is going to be so much fun to watch unfold.” Draco feels his face burning up and he bites his nails as he looks down at Lyra. When he looks up to tell Blaise how wrong he is he sees that Blaise is looking past Draco at someone else. Draco turns around to see some random person standing right behind him. 

“Theodore.” Blaise regards the person interrupting them in a very cold maor, one that Draco doesn’t like at all and hopes that he is never on the receiving end of. 

“Ah Zabini” This Theodore regards Blaise with an overly fake sarcastic attitude that Draco spots right away. “What a lovely surprise to see you this early in the day, it just brings a smile to my face you know? And who is this gorgeous man right here?” He asks as he joins Draco and Blaise at their small table. His eyes snap down to look down at Draco and it puts Draco on edge. His eyes rake over Draco taking him in and the gleam in his eyes, Draco doesn’t like it. He’s only ever seen that look once before, on his father's face.

“My name's Draco.” He answers quietly, eyes cast back down to Lyra who likes Theodore just as much as Draco, as she quietly hisses at him. Theodore doesn’t pay any attention to her. He snaps his finger repeatedly in front of Draco's face till he looks at him.

“Speak clearly and look up when you’re talking to your superiors pretty boy.” Draco didn’t like that at all. When Harry calls him pretty boy it’s almost like an inside joke between the two of them. But when this Theodore says it it makes him feel… wrong. But when he said that Draco went back to old habits that his parents had instilled in him at a young age. He sits up straight with perfect posture and looks Theo in the eyes. “See isn’t that better.” Theo tells him condescendingly. “Now what was your name?” Before Draco has a chance to answer Blaise grabs his wrist and pulls him away from the table and Theo. 

“Come one we’re leaving.” He tells Draco, pulling him back towards Hogwarts leaving no room for argument. Draco barely grabs his coffee as he stumbles after him. Lyra climbs up his pant leg and settles on his shoulder. Even though Blaises grip never leaves his wrist he turns his head right as they round a corner to see Theo slowly waving his hand bye to them, not breaking eye contact with Draco till he disappears from Draco’s line of sight.  


* * *

“Blaise? Blaise? BLAISE?!?!?!” 

“Huh? Sorry I didn’t hear you. What is it?”

“Who was that?”

“Theodore Nott.”

“Who is that?” 

“Don’t worry about just promise me you’ll avoid him at all costs.”

“But wh-”

“Draco ca- Just promise me.”

“Yeah yeah. I’ll avoid him at all times. I promise.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

Despite the weirdness of this morning, and weird was the only word that Draco could think of to use to describe this morning, he wants to have a boring day. A day where he can just get through without any hygge confessions, discoveries, dramatice break downs, whatever. 

After coffee Blaise and Draco had headed back to their dorm and no matter how many times Draco had asked about that Theo person, Blaise had either changed the subject or flat out ignored him. So Draco just decided to drop it and keep on his “borning day” mission… at least for now. He is currently sitting next to Luna in their Astrology class which is taught by Professor Black. He looks over at Luna and she’s wearing a white tank top, black shorts and a sheer white floral robe over it. Her blonde hair is wavy with an oversized black hat on. She’s currently hunched over her note book doodling something. Draco decides he likes Luna. She’s very relaxed, she seems nice and caring, and she doesn’t ask intrusive questions. 

“What are you drawing?” Draco asks Luna, wanting to rather talk with her then worry in silence about Professor Sirius and the class. 

“Nargles.” She answers without even looking up.

“Nargles?” He asked, confused. “What are those?” One of the disadvantages that Draco has is that due to his parents controlling the information he consumed he is ignorant on a decent amount of things. Including Nargles apparently. 

“Well they are-” But she cuts off as they both stare out the door as they hear music getting louder and louder by the second. Draco doesn’t recognize the artist but whoever it is sounds really angry. Suddenly the door whips open to show their teacher with some box hoisted on his shoulder blaring “music” from it.

“WHO’S READY TO LEARN NERDS??” Their… Draco knows that Professor is the appropriate term for him but right now he does not feel like he deserves that title. Anyway their “Professor” saunters his way up to the front of the class not turning off the music till he’s sitting on top of his desk. “Welcome to astrology, now if you’re here because you want to know if you’re a leo or a virgo then get out. I’m not joking, grab your stuff and leave. I will not hesitate to use the hose on you.”

2 things Draco notes from what he just said. 1) His whole funny and goofy demeanor didn’t change too much during that whole comment, but Draco could tell that he was 100% serious. 2) Hose? But with that comment about half the class, which was only like 10 students to be fair, got up and left the classroom.

“That’s a bit more than usual” Draco hears him mutter under his breath. This Professor- Draco doesn’t even know what to say. “Alright guys my name is Professor Sirius but y'all can just call me Sirius, I’m cool like that. Now, I know you are probably all like: who is this weird teacher that just kicked half of my classmates out of the room? And the answer is I just told you, sirius. I am your professor for Astrology. Now Astrology is so much more than Zodiac signs and that stuff. Now those things are an important part of it but there is so much more. Astrology is belief, and mystery, and wonder and magic I think and- well, you’ll just have to see for yourself won’t you?” Sirius looks at them with a look of passion that only someone who really connects with their craft/job can make. 

Professor Sirius has Draco’s attention

* * *

The rest of their class was pretty mundane. Professor Sirius talking about all 12 of the zodiac signs, and what makes them different, overall anyway they’d go more in depth later. He also mentioned the fire, water and earth signs and some other stuff. To be honest, it was a lot of information and Draco didn’t catch it all. Draco likes Astrology so far though. It’s something new and different not like anything his parents had deemed respectable for him to learn back at the manor. And not something he had initially picked. Honestly he picked it cause he thought it said astronomy. He was tired, ok. The only drawback was that it is taught by Sirius Black… Well maybe it’s not a drawback . Right now he doesn’t know what his opinion of him is yet. But he’s not telling anyone that, especially Professor Sirius. No matter what that man still scares him. When their class is dismissed Luna gently touches his shoulder to get his attention. Something he notes about her is that she is the only person that can touch him and he won’t freak out about it, it actually calms him. It’s one of the reasons he likes her.

“I want to go talk with and meet Sirius, will you go with me?” 

USED to like her, that was one of the reasons he USED to like her. He gives her a pleading look asking her nonverbally to not make him talk with their Professor but she just stares at him with a neutral expression waiting for him to answer. 

“Yeah… I’ll go up with you.” He really needs to work on vocalizing his feelings. With people besides Harry obviously. She grabs his hand and slightly pulls him up to where Pro- oh fuck it, Sirius, is sitting. He looks like a brooding child. He has his feet kicked up on his desk and angrily typing something into his phone. Luna just stands there waiting patiently for him to notice them. After a few seconds Draco, not so subtly, clears his throat to get Sirius’s attention. His head snaps up and when he sees them a huge grin spreads across his face. 

“Draco! Luna! So nice of you to stop by, I hope you enjoyed the class?” 

“Yes sir it was very interesting. I really liked what you said about zodiac signs. It was quite insightful.” Luna answered wistfully while Draco just nodded agreeing with what she was saying. 

“Well I’m glad to hear-” He gives a nod to Luna, “and see that” He gives a smirk and wink to Draco. “Do you know what your two are? I like knowing what my students' signs are, gives me a better read on them.”

“Aquarius” 

“Ah that makes sense. And you Draco?” Sirius and Luna turn their attention to him. He looks down at his hands and rubs them together anxiously. He shrugs his shoulders hoping that he would take the hint. 

“You don’t have the dates memorized. That's a fine, good thing. I specialize in this. When’s your birthday?” The question dies in his mouth as he looks at Draco’s face. “Oh I see” Sirius says to himself under his breath. “Well I must dismiss you two for the day, I have too many things to take care of.”

Luna and Draco nod their heads and head out of the classroom. They past Lupin who seems to not notice them and heads straight into Sirius’s classroom. 

“Did you seriously kick half of the students from your class? Again??” They hear Remus yell and Sirius’s hysterical laughter answer it. 

* * *

There’s a reason that Draco is going into English, and communications but more English. Communications is more of a back up safety net. English is amazing. Not the actual language, screw that shit. They have so many rules and break most of them and- That’s besides the point. English as in books and writing and analyzing and a way of expression. Draco has depended on it his whole life. He would read to escape his parents and their rules and expectations. He would read to learn more than what his parents had told him. He would read because when he read it would be one of the few times that back home he felt genuinely happy. Writing was how he expressed himself without having to. It was his passion and something he might want to do for the rest of his life and through writing he had learned so many things. So all in all, Draco loves English. 

Science and math on the other hand? No. Fuck that shit. He doesn’t know how to describe it but it makes everything in his head get scrambled and nothing makes sense. He thought that when you go to college you get to pick whatever classes you want and role with it but apparently that isn’t that case because you need this stupid thing called “gen-eds”. But those are his last 2 classes of the day, so he just has to pray that he somehow finds a way to get through these classes and pass them with the least amount of pain. 

Between the end of his astrology class and his math class, him and Luna met Ginny and their friend Semus for coffee. Yes, Draco had already had coffee that morning. It's just sooooo good. Semus is a childhood friend of Ginny, apparently he was from the same town that everyone else he met is from. He is a little bit taller then Draco, dirty blonde shaggy hair, his pale face had roughly 15,000 freckles on it. He had been wearing a generic T-shirt and black shorts. He looked like any typical white boy who doesn’t know how to dress themselves. He had talked in a scotish accent which was just confusing. But he was a very sarcastic, funny and chill person. So Draco didn’t mind his presence. But he would like to stop meeting so many new people it is quite overwhelming. 

Him and Ginny walked towards their classroom together. She was telling different things that he could sign up for and trying to convince him to try out for some sort of sports team that they have.

“It’s called futbol, it’s called that everywhere but America” Ginny was explaining to him.

“What’s it called there? I never read about ‘improper’ sports” Draco asks.

“Soccer, they call another sport football there.” 

“Do they use their feet in that other football?”

“No they use their hands 90% of the time.” Ginny clarifies sounding slightly annoyed, but not at Draco at America apparently. 

“But that makes no sense…” Draco trails off trying to understand how that works.

“Don’t even get me started on stupid decesions America has made. Will you at least give it a shot? How about this: you go and watch one of the pre season practices and see what you think, you may just like what you see. Pleeeeease.” She looked at him and batted her eyelashes until he let out a sigh and caved to her whim.

“Ok, I will watch one, just one, of your practice thingies. Ok?” He conceited. She nods her head quickly, a grin spreading across her face and they make it into their classroom. She tries to get him to sit in the very back of the class but he shakes his head and sits in the very front in the very center. Ginny gives him a confused look as she slowly sits down in the seat next to him.

“Why are we sitting in the front row of our calculus class?”

“Because we need to.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m really bad at math and I need no distractions but I will need your help so I need to sit in the front to do good.” Draco concedes to Ginny as he looks down at his planner writing in his schedule for the rest of the week. 

“Oh, ok.” Ginny answers, pulling out her laptop.

“Oh ok?” He looks over at her curiously

“Yes; oh, ok. Is there something else you wanted me to say?”She shifts her whole body putting all of her attention on him.

“No, nothing else.” He looked back down at his planner as Ginny resumed getting ready for class. 

* * *

Their teacher, like all the other teachers, walks into the classroom right on time. Well, she stumbles into the classroom. She has a bright blue pixie cut and is pretty petite, probably only 5 foot, it’s safe to say that all of her students are taller than her. She is wearing an oversized long sleeve grey sweatshirt with holes in it, red pants and black… are those wheels on the bottom of her shoes? Is this person a teacher or is she a student? But when she comes through the door she seems to be tripping over air as she stumbles and falls on her face throwing the papers in her hands in the air with a shout. 

“Sorry sorry sorry guys I’m here just give me one minute.” She quickly grabs her papers and pushes them into a messy pile on the corner of her desk. 

“Welcome to your math course of the semester, or at least one of your math courses of the semester. I am your teacher. Tonks my name is as short as I am.” She looked at them smiling expecting them to laugh, no one did. “Well that usually gets at least one laugh. So we are going to move past that moment of pure awkwardness, I promise you though it won't be the last.” This does earn a quiet laugh from Draco which Tonks hears and smiles at him for. “Before we start with shapes and numbers and letters and all that fun stuff I want to ask y'all a couple questions. How many of you like math?” When she asks everyone in the room slowly raises their hand.

“No I don’t want you guys to lie to me because I think that I’ll fail you. How about this then how many of you don’t like math? No one wants to raise their hand, ok I’ll start.” She sits on her desk swinging her legs in the air and shoots her hand up. “ I for one cannot stand math. What about you?” She gestures toward Draco, waiting for him to answer. He swallows loudly before he answers.

“Yeah, um I guess I don’t like math that much” 

“Really? Interesting, why is that?” She looks at him with a purely interested and encouraging look.

“I’m just not really the best at math. It gets jumbled in my head and it’s hard for me to figure out.” 

“Thank you for that. It's totally ok to not like or be the best at any class that you take, even math. So who else doesn’t like or is not the best at math?” About half of the class raise their hands slowly. “So like 10 of you… That’s fine I totally understand and respect you guys. Want to know something? I was just like you guys when I was your age. I hated math and was atrocious at it. Most of my teachers didn’t even try to help me. They just gave up on me, they expected me to barely pass their class.”

“Why are you a math professor then mam?” Someone asks from where they are sitting behind Draco and Ginny. 

“Because I had a teacher who didn’t instantly give up on me. They took the time to talk with me and realize what I struggled with and why I did struggle. And no matter how hard I fumbled as long as I put in the effort with the numbers he put the effort in with me. So I decided that I wanted to help future math struggling kidos like yourselves.” Draco couldn’t understand why anyone in the whole world would want to become a math professor, but based off of the little story that she just told he respects her for it. 

“But sadly in order for me to get a good idea on your guys math abilities I need you to take a test as a baseline.” She only gets a loud united groan as a response. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: It’s Friday night and they survived the first week of school so they HAVE to play a drinking game right? Saturday Ginny and Blaise take Draco shopping when they find out he only brought 9 outfits with him. Afterward Draco goes to watch one of the soccer thingies Ginny was talking about and damn.


	8. Never Have I Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Friday night and they survived the first week of school so they have to play a drinking game right? Saturday morning Blaise take Draco out to help fix some of his problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all have to write about your identity and who you are for class cause I’m supposed to and I have no freaking clue what I’m doing. Also working on this while recouping from wisdom teeth surgery, so it’s a VIBE.  
> Please leave comments and kudos if ya’ll want it lets me know people are actually enjoying my story. My friend and I check for grammar and all that fun stuff but we missed anything I apologize.  
> Right now let's say that it takes place mid September because I don’t remember is I ever specified that and I love this time of the year.  
> Much love ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍🤎

By the end of his first week of college Draco was exhausted, like he could fall over in the middle of the school hallway exhausted. He knew that when he signed up for his courses he should expect a lot, that wasn’t what tired him. Sure, it wasn’t easy per say but the amount of work wasn’t something new. The thing that was making him so tired was, of course, his bloody roommates. Ron has to explain every single thing that he is doing in his work, out loud. Blaise only ever starts his homework at 11pm and finishes it at like 3am. Harry just keeps talking to Draco and asking him questions anytime he’s trying to work on his class assignments. 

So, as he heads towards his room for the night all he can think of is his bed. That’s why when he opens his door he is a little surprised by what he sees. The lights are all out in the room so it’s pretty dark except for the center. In the middle of the room there are three different candles lit and three people in cloaks of some kind are sitting around them completely ignoring Draco. This... this is what insanity looks like… and a cult Draco imagines. 

“Hello?” He calls out cautiously to the individuals in the room that he hopes are his roommates. All three heads turn towards him and don’t say anything. This is how he dies, he’s going to be the sacrifice during some weird ass ritual. Right as his flight or fight response is about to kick in though one the them jumps up and runs at him. 

Fuuuu-

“Draco I’m so glad you made it back, we were waiting for you but it’s already 8 and we were getting restless. Where have you been?” As the mystery cult person is talking Draco is able to see the face under the hood to reveal Harry (thank god).

“I went and met Ginny and Luna for dinner. Why do you guys look like you are about to sacrifice someone or something?

“Well I guess it kind of looks like that…” Ron comments more to himself then anything.

“We’re not in a cult or anything Blondie, though I do understand why you get that impression. We have a tradition ever since our Junior year of high school to meet up on friday night after our first week of school, if we survive, and decompress together.” Blaise yells at him as Harry grabs Draco’s hand and drags him over to their creepy ass cicle. His hand feels nice in Draco’s. Not that Draco would ever admit that out loud. As he’s sitting on the ground he sees the knowing look that Blaise is giving him so he rips his hand out of Harry’s, blushing. 

“We also drink!” Harry proclaims loudly

“Yes Harry, we drink too.” Ron and Blaise both chuckle and roll their eyes at him.

“Ok that makes sense. But why are you guys in these weird ass cloaks then?”

“Oh these? My mom made them for us. They’re hand knit and super comfy so it’s tradition for us to wear them when just the three of us hang.” Ron answers. 

“That’s nice.” There is no reason for Draco to feel jealous. These guys have been friends for years and are super close friends, no matter what they might say. It would make sense for them to have traditions and things only they do. None the less he does feel a jealous jab in his gut. 

“And yours is laid out on your bed.” 

What?

“What?” Draco asks, confused.

“My mom made you one, she dropped it off while you were in classes today and I laid it on your bed.”

“Why did she make one though?”

“You’re part of our group now blondie.” Blaise says.

“Yeah, as soon as I mentioned that we had another roommate at the beginning of the week she whipped your robe up with a couple of personal touches just for you.”

“You’re with us for better or worse. You’re our people now. Go put it on and we can get this night started.” Harry cheers and him and Ron head to the counter to carry the many bottles of alcohol they had smuggled in. 

Draco heads over his section of his room. He puts his bag next to his bed and sees the robe. It’s a long navy robe that is soft to the touch. It has his name stitched in cursive in the upper right corner and a beautiful raven on the opposite side. It was very simple and there was nothing else to it. But it was made for HIM and it was HIS. So he loved it. He puts it on and it is by far the comfiest thing he has ever worn. He wraps his arms around himself and smiles. 

“How you feeling Blondie?” Blaise walks over and asks him. 

“Happy.” He responds without hesitation. 

“Good, you should be. Welcome to the family.” The two of them head over to join Ron and Harry in the center of the room. 

“What are we doing then? You guys said something about games and drinking?” As soon as Draco asks, a huge grin crosses Harry’s face and there’s an evil glint in his eyes.

“We’re playing never have I ever.”

* * *

Would you rather was created so that teengers and college could get drunk but with an excuse, that’s what Draco has determined. It could also be used as a tool to expose people which was just dangerous. The rules for it are quite simple: you say never have I ever and then something you have never done and someone else has done that they drink. They’d only been doing it for roughly an hour and Blaise and Harry are already slurring their words slightly and quite tipsy. Draco on the other hand has not had one drink.

“Never have I everrrrrr set Snape'sssss jacket on fire?” Blaise says with a pointed look at Harry. Grumbling Harry takes a sip out of his vodka mix. 

“That was really specific, I thought we said that we can’t do ones that directly target people?”

“Wait you actually set his jacket on fire?” Draco asks in disbelief. 

“Ohmygod Draco has neeeeeever heard this story. Harry you havvvvve to tell him.” Blaise starts poking Harry to get his attention repeatedly like a 5 year old kid as Ron nods eagerly in agreement. 

“Do you want to hear the story?”

“I feel like you need to tell me, it’s already been built up so much.” Draco replies with a smirk swirling his glass of untouched wine in his left hand. 

“Ok, so it wasn’t really my fault-”

“Did you or did you not set his coat on fire? It’s a yes or no answer.” Draco cuts him off. 

“Yes” 

“Then it was your fault. But please do tell me what happened.”

“Yeah yeah, so I don’t like Snape. The feeling is mutual. Really we hate each other to be frank. He tries to fail me at every chance he gets and I try to make his life a living hell. So he had given me a C and I did not agree with that at all. So the next day I brought in a mini firework-”

“A WHAT??”

“Firework do keep up Draco.” Ron says

“Mini firework yes. It was only supposed to disrupt class and piss him off but it kind of just flopped at his feet. So while he was yelling at me apparently it sparked against his coat dragging on the ground and…”

“Fire” Ron and Blaise yell

“Yep he caught on fire. It was a whole thing and I had detention, yes apparently you can have detention in college if you’re lucky enough, for 2 months.” Draco doesn’t say anything but then he just bursts out laughing. Not soft quiet giggles, hard cackling and is soon joined by the other three. Once they have calmed down and are enjoying the silence Ron looks at Draco’s class.

“Draco have you drunk any of that yet?”

“Well I haven’t done anything you guys have said so I don’t drink right?” He looks up and they are all giving him a look of disbelief at his comment. He’s going to start making a tally everytime they give him that look. As individuals or as a big group. 

“You haven’t done any of these things that we have listed?” Harry questions. Draco just shakes his head no. So the other three just re list all the things that they said before.

“Snuck out?”

“No” Draco says blushing.

“Had sex?”

“No”

“Made out with someone?”

“Been on a date?”

“No, why are all of your guys questions relationship based?”

“Pulled a prank?”

“No”

“Been to a concert?”

“No”

“Shoplifted?”

“No, I actually have never been shopping. My mom got me all of my stuff.” Tally 2 of getting looks of disbelief from his roommates. 

“Ever been to an amusement park?”

“What’s that?” With that the three of them all look at each and down the rest of their drink. Blaise then gets up and grabs a pen and notebook from his bed and brings it over. He opens it up and starts writing in it without a word. 

“What’re you-”

“What else haven’t you done?” Blaise cuts him off.

“What are you doing?”

“Well since you haven’t done anything fun in your life apparently we are going to change that. We are going to list things and if we say something that you want to do in the future you take a sip of your wine.” 

“Oh, ok.” Draco answers, surprised.

With that Ron and Harry start rattling off things so fast that Draco downs almost a whole bottle of wine. They don’t go to bed till like 3am. By then all 4 of them are completely wasted. Blaise had started talking in only italian, Harry had stripped down to boxers during a 1 man game of some strip drinking game and Ron had written a 5 page paper on why the American revolution is an overrated historical fact. All in all Draco had a very good night with his friends.

* * *

Despite the events of last night Draco doesn’t feel as drunk as the rest of his roommates. That’s not to say he doesn’t feel a slight pounding in his head, he does. He’s just able to get out of his bed and make coffee while the other three have their heads buried in their pillows. He smiles as he takes a deep sniff of his coffee, god Draco loves the smell of coffee in the morning. He places his mug on the counter and as he looks at them he feels a tinge of pity for them. He puts a glass of water and an Advil pill on their nightstands next to them. 

One by one they wake up. Ron is the first squinting and muttering under his breath, he takes the painkiller and immediately heads towards the bathroom paying no mind to Draco. Harry just lifts his head, takes the painkillers, and pulls the curtain back around his bed to fall back asleep. Blaise puts sunglasses on in their already darkened room (Why? Draco could not tell you.) and heads over to pour himself some coffee. Rolling his eyes at his roommates, Draco goes over by his bed and puts on his headphones as he sorts through his clothes trying to find something to wear for the day.

_ It was a bad idea, Calling you up _

_ Was such a bad idea, 'Cause now I'm even more lost _

_ It was a bad idea, To think you were the one _

_ Was such a bad idea, 'Cause now everything's wron _ g*

The only bad idea was the idea that he should only bring this many clothes. five shirts, four sweaters, three pairs of pants and two jackets. How is he supposed to spend a whole year at college with only 9 outfits? That includes summer and winter? He puts his headphones around his neck to try and gather his anxious thoughts. The silence of the room booming in his ear. What is he gonna do? He needs to save as much money as possible until he can find a job around here. But he also needs to buy clothes so that A) he doesn’t wear the same clothes over and over again and B) he has clothes that are appropriate for the weather. 

“What are you doing?” 

Draco jumps back from whoever or whatever has just spoken, swearing under his breath. He looks and sees a smug Blaise standing there sipping coffee out of his yellow and black mug. 

“You really scare easily don’t you? You know that when the other two realize this is’t going to be the death of you? But seriously, why are we staring at your clothes?” Draco rolls his eyes at him, he starts folding them and putting them back in the drawers that they belong in.

“I have a problem.” Draco says keeping his focus on the shirt in his hands.

“Oooooh, what kind of problem? Is it a drama filled one or a boring woe is me one? Judging from that terrified look I’d say it’s the first one, what’s up?” Blaise asks with a intrigued look in his eyes.

“I need to get clothes, I didn’t bring enough with me when-” Draco does a quick scan around the room to make sure the other two can’t hear him, “-when I ran away.” 

“Ok… So let's go get some.” Blaise answers slowly as if he’s talking to a little kid so that they’ll comprehend everything he’s saying. 

“I would love to, but I don’t have money. Like I have some but I need to save that for food and emergencies and stuff. I guess you could say getting clothes is an emergency but then I’ll have no money if I buy clothes. But I don’t have the proper clothes to go to a job interview or anything but-” Draco’s ramble is cut off as Blaise physically puts his hand over Draco’s mouth to shut him up.

“Ok so we need to find a place that sells cheap clothes so you’ll stop saying the word clothes for five minutes and find you a job that won’t make you want to kill too many people, got it.” Blaise proclaims as he grabs Draco’s hand and drags the two of them out of the dorm before Draco even realises he’s still in his pajamas. 

* * *

After Blaise has dragged Draco across what feels like the whole campus the two of them are standing in front of someone's dorm room. Draco sleepily rubs his eyes glaring no so subtly at Blaise.

“Blaise wha-”

“Draco I will cover your mouth, and not in the fun way, if you start rambling again.” Blaise quickly cuts him off as he continues to wrap his knuckles on the door in front of them. 

“But where are we?” Draco rushes out before Blaise can get a chance to cut him off. Luckily though as soon as he vocalizes his question the door is whipped open to show a gorgeous display of Ginny Weasley. 

“What in the everlasting fuck do you want at the ass crack of dawn?” Ginny seathes, her murderous glare zoned in on Blaise. Her beautiful ginger hair looks like she just got electrocuted by lightning. She’s wearing an oversized burgundy sweater and black Nike pros on under it. 

“It’s already 11am.” He answers conversationally.

“Blaise” Ginny warns malace laced in her voice.

“Draco has no money, nor clothes, nor a job. Want to help us rectify this problem?” Draco feels his face heat up at the casual voice that Blaise just spoke in regarding him. Ginny lets out a string of words that Draco  _ thinks  _ are welsh. She slams the door shut on their faces, as Draco turns around to head back to the dorm Blaise grabs his arm and shakes his head and gestures for him to wait another minute. Seconds later the door opens to reveal a much more put together Ginny. She has her hair in a cute messy bun, a cropped black tank and is wearing white ripped pants. 

“This is only because I like Draco more than you.” She tells Blaise as she hangs her arm around Dracos neck giving him a genuine smile. 

“You just met him.” Blaise comments sounding mildly offended.

“Yes, and I already like him more than you. Not that it takes much.” She winks at Draco.

“Whatever.” Blaise says rolling his eyes.

“Come on boys, to  _ Arrêt des bonbons _ . Draco, what are you wearing?” Ginny asks him as she leads the two out into town. Draco looks down at himself and realizes how stupid he looks right now. He is wearing a sweatshirt that he found at a store on his way to the train to school which is 3x larger than it should be reaching his knees and black shorts on under it which you can’t tell because of how long his shirt is. His face turns into the shade of Ginny's hair.

“It’s not my fault, Blaise dragged me out of the room before I could say anything. Give me ten minutes an-”

“Draco, calm down. I was only asking because you always seem very put together and you’re not right now- But you look really adorable.” Ginny reassures him. As they head into the town right outside Hogwarts which Draco has recently learned is called Hogsmede. 

“Oh, really?” He asks self consciously. Looking at her for complete reassurance, and he receives it. 

“Yes, 100% I love it. Come one we’re at the bakery. You’re gonna love it here.” She opens the door and he walks in. It’s this adorable, cottage esc bakery**. There are lights dangling above them, one of the walls is a brick wall. The tables are white with pastel colored chairs. At the front they have this cute little display case and all these different kinds of mugs, bowls, and plates lining the wall. To the left of it is the menu written in chalk. Draco loves it, it’s so adorable. 

“Isn’t this place adorable? I love coming here. And look at this.” Ginny says as she pulls a piece of paper off of a table and Draco reads it:  
  


_ Arrêt des bonbons _

_ HELP NEEDED _

_ FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE _

_ $13.50 AN HOUR PLUE SIPS  _

_ NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED _

_ PREFERED: SPEAKS FRENCH AND ENGLISH _

_ SEE MANAGER FOR MORE INFORMATION _

“Guys…” Draco turns to see Ginny and Blaise looking at him with grins on their faces and Dracos eyes go huge as he realizes why they brought him here. 

“Hey don’t check out on us now Blondie.” Blaise warns him.

“Ok, you said it yourself you need a job.” Ginny reminds him.

“Yes.” Draco agrees begrudgingly.

“And I can tell you like this bakery, I can tell.”

“Yes.”

“And it has good pay.”

“Yes.”

“You speak french don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So what’s the issue?” Ginny asks him, her eyebrow arching questiongly. 

“... I look dumb?” 

“Nope, try again.” Blaise says calling him out. 

“I…. don’t really have a good excuse do I?” He asks as he gets the two of them shaking their heads at him.

“Here take this five dollars, get whatever you want, and ask them about the job opening,”

“But-”

“GO!” Ginny and Blaise physically push him to the counter where the register is at. He runs his hands through his hair to try and calm it down and pulls himself together as he hits the little bell on top of the counter. 

“Coming!” He hears an accented, young, and cheery voice call from the back. Out walks this tall gorgeous woman with long blonde hair. “Welcome to Arrêt des bonbons , my name is Fleur, how can I help you?”

“Cupcake.”

“I’m sorry?” A look of pure confusion crosses her face and Draco realizes what he just said. 

“I’d like one of your chocolate cupcakes please.”

“Oh of course.” She says as she reaches inside and places a beautiful chocolate one into this small white box. 

“I was also wondering if you guys are hiring?”

“Are you at least 17 years old?”

“Yes.”

“Ever had a job?”

“No.”

“Can you be flexible with hours?”

“Yes.”

“Do you speak french?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to be a pain in my ass?” She levels him with a stern look.

“N-n-no.” He stutters out.

“You start tomorrow. Come in at 12” She says as she hands him his box and smiles at him. “ Have a nice day?...”

“Draco”. 

“Have a nice day Draco.” She calls to him as he heads out of the bakery meeting his two friends outside.

“So?” Blaise asks him waiting for an answer.

“You guys are looking at a working man.” Draco answers with a smile creeping in his face, Ginny lets out a high pitched squeal as she jumps on him giving him a tight hug. 

“Let go celebrate, TO WINKYS!!” Ginny yells as they head away from the bakery and down the road. 

“Wait guys I don’t have money yet. I can’t pay for anything yet. I still have to pay you back for this cupcake.” He tries to explain as they usher him down the road.

“Don’t worry about it.” Blaise tries to reassure him.

“Yes but I-” He starts but Blaise cuts him off for the upteenth time today.

“But nothing, we are trying to do something nice for you. Why are you against it?” Blaise questions him. 

“Because…” He looks at the two of them hoping that that is enough of an explanation for them but judging by their expressions it’s not. 

“It’s ok to lean on other people and ask for help. Especially when people are offering it to you.” Ginny reassures him as she loops her arm through his and ruffles his hair. Blaise bumps his shoulder against Draco’s to show he agrees with him. 

“Ok” He mumbles out.

“Hey, we should be celebrating right now. You got a job and now we are going shopping!!” Blaise teases him which causes Dracos smile. 

“Let's go shopping!” He says as they hurry down the path. Maybe his father was wrong, maybe having others help you out isn’t too bad.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Is this girl in red? Yes I’m a lesbian and love her music with my whole body  
> ** This is the picture that I based the bakery off of:
> 
> https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F265782815482734899%2F&psig=AOvVaw1vL7SXKPQKOynb62w3jO6l&ust=1599447366687000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIieofTD0-sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF
> 
> Next chapter summary:When Draco gets back from shopping he sees that Harry is acting strange so he asks him about it and him and Harry bond. Shorter chapter Drarry bonding


	9. No Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Draco gets back from shopping he sees that Harry is acting strange so he asks him about it and him and Harry bond. Shorter chapter Drarry bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I want to start off by saying this: I in no way support JK Rowlings opinions, words, views, in any shape or form. Her prejudiced, homophobic, transphobic, racist, tendencies are deplorable. As a Puerto Rican, non-binaary, lesbian it hurts me to see things that shes done over the years and continues to do. We cannot say that she just didn’t write the books, by doing that we erase all the hurt she has caused the community. What we can do is denounce her and her actions. We can take this world that has brought you, me, and so many others happiness and safety and use it as we want to. Have that be cosplaying, skits, dressing up, reading fanfiction, writing it, however you deem. Harry Potter belongs to the fans. Fuck her.
> 
> I just felt the need to say that before we continued with this story. Sorry this took so long to update, I try to alternate between this and my other story with updates and I have been getting a lot more work with college. This chapter is significantly shorter than the others but I wanted to focus solely on Harry and Draco’s relationship and have some development there. I am going to post this chapter (obviously) and then update this again before I update my other story. The update should be soon, within the next 10 days. Also, if there is something in particular y'all want to see let me know in the comments and I’ll see if I can add it. Comments and kudos make me smile and want to work on this story more. I apologize for any grammatical errors. Without further adieu, the next chapter.

Shopping with Blaise and Ginny was so much fun, and a lot different than what Draco had initially expected. When Draco was back home everything was done for him: cooking, cleaning, picking out his clothes, etc. Which probably sounds really nice but in reality it just causes quite a few issues. Like Draco can make basic things like ramen, coffee, and toast but that’s about it. He cannot tell you how to turn on a dishwasher, if he tried to Draco is pretty sure he’d get it to explode or flood the laundry room. He would wake up every morning with his outfit laid neatly across his desk so he never had to worry about finding something to wear. 

So, when they got to Winky’s and the other two asked him what he liked to wear Draco didn’t really have that good of an answer. He liked oversized sweaters, that’s all he had taken with him when he left, but that’s all he knew. Once the other two heard they made him do a fashion show in both womens and mens clothing because according to them “clothing has no gender”. But the store was basically empty so Draco allowed it and enjoyed all of it. 

Draco and Blaise dropped Ginny off at her dorm before they headed back to theirs. Blaise said he told some of his friends he’d meet them somewhere and asked Draco to put his stuff away on his bed for him which Draco agreed to, no big deal. So Draco fumbled with the door for a little bit and then stumbled into the room. He dropped Blaises stuff on his bed and then headed over to his own, placing it on the floor and then laying down in his own bed drawing his curtains closed for privacy. He put his music on shuffle as he laid staring at the ceiling.

In the past week he has been exposed to more and learned more about how the world actually is, which is quite different than what he had ever expected. Though he is trying to adapt and roll with the punches (he thinks that’s how the saying goes) as much as possible, it is still confusing and exhausting at times. Before this he was someone he depended on for their parents for every single thing that happened to him in life. Now he is an independant, self sufficient, working, individual who is contributing to society. How his world has changed. He hears a quiet noise come from the ground and sees Lyra trying her best, and failing, to get onto the bed. Taking pity on her he reaches down and gently places her on his lap, petting her soothingly. 

Despite the fact that Draco thought he was alone in the room he hears some noise coming from one of the beds. He sits up and pokes his head out of the curtain to see another bed with the curtains drawn, Harry’s bed. He looks down at Lyra who is already climbing him trying to get onto his shoulder like he is a tree. Once she is on his shoulder she looks up at him, as if to say “ok I’m ready”. Draco heads over to Harry’s bed and hears music playing from inside. 

_ *I’m heading straight for the floor _

_ The alcohol serves its tour _

_ And it’s headed straight for my skin _

_ Leaving me daft and dim _

_ I’ve got this shake in my legs _

_ Shaking the thoughts from my head _

_ But who put these waves in the door? _

_ I crack and out I pour _

_ I’m Mr.Loverman _

_ And I miss my lover, man _

_ I’m Mr.Loverman _

_ Oh, and I miss my lover _

There is something going on inside the curtain of Harry’s bed, and it does not seem great. He pulls the curtains back and sees Harry in all his glory. He is laying on top of his covers looking at something in his hands with a somber look on his face. This is quite a change from what Draco has grown accustomed to expect from Harry.

“What’s up Draco?” Harry says without looking up from his hands. That may be his name, but having Harry refer to him as that instead of ‘Blondie’ or ‘pretty boy’ or some other cute and endearing nickname catches him off guard. 

“What’s wrong?” Draco asks as he glances from an empty space on Harry’s bed back to his face. 

“What’s to say something is wrong?” He responds.

“Because you’re not teasing or being overly sweet with me.” Draco answers feeling slightly embarrassed and looks down at his feet blushing.

That causes a small smile to spread across Harry's face, disappearing almost as quickly as it appeared. He shifts over ever so slightly so that Draco can sit near him. Instead of sitting on the edge though Draco makes the decision to lay down right next to Harry. So they lay there, both of their heads are placed on the pillow staring up at the ceiling pressed gently next to each other. The music keeps playing but neither of them speak a word. 

After some amount of time Draco shifts his head over to look and see silent tears streaming down Harry’s face. He doesn’t know what happened or what is causing this, but he wants to try and stop it. He reaches up and wipes the tears away as gently as possible. Harry looks at him as Draco's hand makes contact with his cheek. They stare at each other and a thousand thoughts rush through Draco’s head, flashing so fast that he can’t really focus on any of them. When he sees that Harry’s eyes are filling with fresh tears he decides to do something.

He gently pulls Harry by his hands to stand up from the bed ignoring the indignant groan that Harry makes at the prospect of standing up. 

“Do you know how to dance?” Draco asks as he turns off Harry’s depressing music and shuffles through music on his phone till he finds a song that he deems as just given the situation _. _

“I don’t want to dance.” Harry argues as he stands looking miserable.

“I didn’t ask if you want to, I was asking if you know how.” 

“Yes, of course I know how to dance. What do you take me for you dork?” Harry answers with that cocky smile returning to his face and an eye roll.

“I don’t know if I believe you, come over here.” Draco beacons him from where he is standing in the middle of the room

Harry meets him and the height difference is more than a little humorous and both of them chuckle at it. The room still has the shades drawn so the only lights that is present are the slivers that leak through the edge of the curtains. Harry wraps his arms around Dracos neck holding him steadily against him as the two of them rock back and forth to the music. Harry rests his chin on the top of Draco’s head and Draco leans his head into Harry’s chest, listening to the music being played.

_ **When you move  _

_ I’m put to mind of all that I wanna be  _

_ When you move _

_ I could never define all that you are to me _

_ So move me, baby _

_ Shake like the bough of a willow tree _

_ You do it naturally _

_ Move me, baby _

The two of them stay like that, leaning on each other. Clinging onto each other desperately, for different reasons respectively but neither feels that inclined to share their reason right now. The song ends and another one plays, and then another, and Draco couldn’t tell you how much time had passed or how many songs had played. He just felt the presence of Harry on him and that was all he needed. 

“Thank you”

Draco didn’t find out for a while why Harry was crying, but that’s ok. This wouldn’t be the last time that he walked in on Harry crying in his bed while clutching something in his hand either. That didn’t matter though. Everytime he walked in and saw that he went over, he took Harry by the hand and into the center of the room to dance. They’d step out of the world and all it’s problems for a little bit and lean onto each other as if the other was a life perseverer that could keep them afloat in the insanity of it all. There were barely any words spoken between the two of them in these instances, but that was fine. The silence shouted enough for them. 

It was at this moment, as they danced against each other not giving a care in the world, that Draco realized his feelings for Harry weren’t completely platonic. But that was a matter for another time. For now, he’ll just enjoy the moment. And the moments is amazing. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter summary: Everyone is starting to stress out a little bit with their impending midterms so the group decides to play truth or dare and things are exposed.
> 
> *Song: Mr.Loverman  
> ** Song: Movement


	10. A Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is starting to stress out a little bit with their impending midterms, this is how they are doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry guys, I really had every intention of publishing this sooner, I even made a schedule and all that. But then a lot of bad personal shit happened, and then my aunt put down her dog that I’ve known for most of my life and I didn’t have the drive to do anything, and then my 13 year old catfish died and college issues. But here's the chapter. Parts of the chapter are from different character's perspectives, please be aware of that. This is something new so if you guys hate it, love it, want me to do it again, never again, just don’t care, let me know. Kudos and comments are appreciated. Have a good Halloween, stay safe and all that. I'll try and update mid November. This chapter is also a lot longer so yay. My friend and I tried to edit and make the grammar good but if we missed anything I apologize.

It is October 5th and midterms for everyone are creeping up. To say the least, everyone copes with the stress that that brings differently. Some people are calmly studying, managing their time well, and are confident that they’ll be successful… Well, Draco assumes there are people like that because not a single one of his friends is acting like that right now. Even Blaise has been cursing in french and getting to be more bitchy to Ron and Harry then usual. 

Most of Draco’s friends are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It doesn’t matter if they are prepared or very much unprepared, they are all losing their shit to put it lightly. Draco is managing fine, he thinks at least. He is studying at every chance he can get. He needs to maintain at least a 4.0 GPA in order to keep his scholarship and everything. He’s currently on his way to meet Hermione at the library to study. 

It’s been about a month since the initial incident where Draco walked into the dorm where Harry and he stood in the center of the room and danced in silence together. Since then they had only gotten closer and closer day by day, and they have had a couple more dancing sessions since then. Also, the small fact that Draco might possibly maybe have romantic feelings for Harry was ever present in his brain. If his father had somehow found out that Draco was feeling… things for another boy he would probably beat him to death. He would tell him he was doing it for attention and to embarrass the Malfoy name, which is probably true. He doesn’t even know what it’s like to be loved, how could he love someone else?

“Hey you made it!” 

Draco turns towards the voice and sees Hermione run up to meet him right as he is about to head into the library. 

“Hey, yeah I told you I was going to meet you to study. I can always use the extra studying you know?” 

“Yes I know, but you don’t need the studying to be frank. You would be just fine staying in your dorm.” She tells him as they head to their designated study table. 

“I could say the same about you.”

“Touche.” Hermione says as she smiles at him sitting down and opening one of her many books. 

“So why then?” He asks her, genuinely curious. 

“What do you mean?” She asks, though her eyes never leave the pages of her book. 

“Well, I mean… You are without a doubt the smartest person at this school- That’s not flattery that’s just a fact. From what I can tell, and what I have heard from others: you study as much as possible, you are at the top of your class, you are even ahead of most of your classes. So why are you spending your free Saturday here studying with me?” She considers this looking at him for a few seconds and then answers with the three words he’d never thought that would leave her mouth.

“I don’t know.” They both take this as an appropriate answer. Hermione takes out two textbooks that are about the size of her head. I mean she is studying so she can get into a good med school so it makes sense that her books are that big. Draco is doing pretty decent in his classes. He’s at the top of all of his classes honestly, but he doesn’t want to boast. Well, almost all of his classes. Speech is… no bueno. 

Speech class is multifold. To start off, Professor Greyback does not like Draco one bit. Now Draco could not tell you why that is: he turns everything in on time, answers all the questions in detail, does everything on the syllabus, doesn’t speak out of turn. Draco goes the whole 9 yards in class but Professor Greyback would still rather see Draco tortured. (Ok he may have never said that verbally, but that’s the vibe he gets. Yes, torture vibe is a thing.) He also nitpicks everything that Draco turns in. He knows that sometimes things are up to interpretation, but the definition of an audience? Come on. A couple of times he has had to bring these things up to Lupin and he’s sorted it out for him, but Draco knows that that only angers Professor Greyback more. The most important thing however is the speech part of… speech class.

Yes, yes, he knows that’s an essential part of the class har har. No, the issue is that when Sirius asked Draco if there was any information he should be aware of and Draco said no… that was kind of a big lie. OK, huge lie. Draco has issues... that came out wrong. He has special added bonuses that make him who he is, one of those being his severe case of anxiety. He was diagnosed with it a couple years ago but when it happened his parents had disagreed with it and essentially ignored it. However, Draco had had this amazing butler named Dobby who had helped him and gotten him his needed medication. He had even helped Draco run away when he decided to leave the manor. He wonders what’s happening to him now…

He’s getting off task, Draco has anxiety. So what this means is that standing in front of a group of people talking about something as they all stare and judge you is LITERALLY Dracos worst fear. Well not his first, but it’s up there. He’s not doing so great at that part in class. Despite the fact that he has high marks in everything else the speeches make-up a decent part of his grade. For the midterm they have to take a written assessment on the properties and rules of speeches, which he’ll be able to do with ease. However, he does have a narrative speech that he needs to work on and figure out. It’s stressing him out quite a bit right now. 

“You want to practice your speech on me?” Hermione asks him, dragging him out of his tunnel of thoughts. He silently thanks her for that. 

“Yeah, maybe then Professor Greyback won’t tear me apart too much this time.” He tells her as they both focus into their studying and work. He wonders how his other friends are doing with their midterm preparations. 

* * *

Blaise

Blaise was sitting with his girlfriend Pansy in the small cafe about two miles away from the Hogwarts and other students. Though it was a little bit of a walk Blaise and Pansy both agree that it is worth it to be away from obnoxious and annoying students. They have been dating for almost two years, they have been childhood friends but didn’t start dating until they got to college. Blaise already knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this girl, though he wouldn’t admit that out loud yet for fear of being ridiculed by dumb and dumber. 

Blaise is a business major because that’s what his parents wanted, and that’s what Pansy went into. Their schedules are almost identical except she’s minoring in French in hopes of working out in France one day and he’s minoring in economics because it is the most practical. Nonetheless, he and Pansy have very similar schedules so studying is just practical. Also he just loves her and her company. So, here they are sitting next to each other in a booth leaving the other side of it completely open and their many books and notes sprawled across the table and their respective drinks in both of their hands. 

“How’s the new kid... Dragon? Drake? Dray?” Pansy asks, leafing through her notebook scanning over them looking for something. 

“Draco, you know his name is Draco. Don’t try and act like you don’t know his name just to annoy me.” He tells her as he takes a sip of his still scalding black coffee. She rolls her eyes at him and looks over at him. 

“Yes, this mysterious Draco that has been keeping all of your attention lately. How is this boy?” 

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of him?” Blaise teases her but is only met with a not so subtle glare. “No, he’s doing well... I think. Still trying to get used to such a drastic change in living. I think you’ll like him though.” Pansy lets a small snort of a laugh as it escapes her mouth. She looks at him with disbelieving eyes. 

“What makes you so sure? I despise everyone, I only tolerate you because you buy me coffee and let me make fun of you relentlessly.” She responds coldly. 

To anyone else she would seem not interested, uncaring, and slightly bitchy. However Blaise knows her better than that. He knows that when her left eye twitches ever so slightly she is invested and interested in whatever her attention is on. He knows that despite the fact that her dorm is always filled with fruit she  **really** loves snacking on those candies from France that Blaise brings over. He knows that when she’s upset she slouches for a fraction of a second before becoming rigid. He knows that she could destroy anyone she cared to, but decides not to just because she can. He knows that she is the most caring, dedicated, loving, beautiful, amazing woman he’s ever met. Even if others don’t see any of that, fuck them. 

“You’ll know when you see him.” He says this looking at her from the side of his eye. Her eyes stay on the notes page she’s been looking at but her left eye twitches ever so slight. Gotcha. 

“You know I don’t like these kinds of games Blaise.” No she doesn’t. 

He knows that he promised Draco he wouldn’t tell anyone what he knew. However, Pansy is going to figure it out the moment she lays her eyes on the Malfoy hair, and the Malfoy heir for that matter. So it would be better if he prepared and warned her beforehand. 

“Draco Black… is actually Draco Malfoy.” 

With that Pansy turns her whole body away from what she was reading and looks at Blaise. Her eyes are huge and the shocked look on her face could not be faked. 

“What?” She whispers not believing what she’d just been told but he just nods at her. They know the Malfoys, Blaise hadn't mentioned this to Draco in fear of freaking him out but all three of their families had grown up in similar social circles so they had been quite aware of each other. Except for Draco’s sheltered self apparently. 

“Is he- How- When-... How is he?” She asks for their notes and studies are completely forgotten. 

“As you would expect, but worse.” Saying this breaks Blaises heart. He may have only known the kid for a month but he already means so much to him. He guesses that she can tell that from the look on his face because she places her carefully manicured hand up on the side of Blaises face. This is something that she wouldn’t be caught dead doing with anyone else, a tender soft moment. But with Blaise she’d risk it. Always. 

“Well it’s a good thing he has you and me now.” She reassures him in a soft silky voice.

“Us?”

“Yes, us. I haven’t met that boy yet but I can only imagine the trauma that he had to go through at that home. And we’ll help him move on to a better life.” She tells him and they stare into each other's eyes. He gently cups her face with his hands and they share a soft gentle kiss with pure love. 

“Let's get back to studying, we won’t be able to help the poor boy at all if we flunk out of our classes.” 

There’s no way either would ever flunk out of their classes. He laughs at this and slings his right arm around her and uses his left to prop up his economics book and starts reading. 

* * *

Ron

Ron jogged around the completely empty field with a soccer ball at his feet trying to perfect this new move that Harry had shown him the other day right before practice. His field and the surrounding fields for that matter were completely empty. Probably because of doom day approaching, also known as the beginning of midterms. The smart choice for Ron would have been joining ‘Mione in the library and having her help him study so he isn’t kicked off of the soccer team for his poor marks. He’s probably being a little dramatic, his grades are fine. B’s are decent enough for him to do what he likes and graduate. His future employer isn’t going to look at his GPA before hiring him, just his diploma to prove that he went through this torture. Midterms isn’t the thing that is stressing him out though, again he is concerned about them but he thinks he’s got it. The thing that is concerning him and causing him the most stress in the thing that’s always on his mind. 

Hermoione. 

Hermione, Harry, and Ron have been friends since… the beginning of time. Harry has been his best friend and best mate since they pulled their first prank back in primary school. Hermione had been with them since she scolded them for the first time (of many) on their “stupid” pranks. Ever since then it’s been the three of them against the world, and some time between all the late nights and early mornings he had fallen in love with her. He had decided to follow her to the ends of the earth, and so far he had. But now, now he didn’t know if he could keep doing that. 

Ron was currently studying to go into criminal justice. He wasn’t exactly the most passionate about it, and had been debating changing majors for a while actually. However, the other day after the latest game he had been approached by one of the head coaches for  Chudley Cannons. They had told him that they had been watching him for a long time and wanted to offer him a position on their team and he had till the end of the year to decide whether to accept or not. 

If he did this however it meant that would mean not completing his college education, he would be leaving all his friends and family and be completely on his own. But, he would be living a dream that he’s had since he saw them play for the first time on the telly. Didn’t he owe that to younger Ron? 

But Hermione.

She is here. She is a future med student. She has like seventeen more years of college. There is no way in hell she would follow him as he played soccer across the world, and he would never want her to. That wouldn’t be Hermione. So, the question remains: What should he do? What is the right answer? IS there a right answer?

So here he is. Kicking a ball across the field with no real intention or goal at this point. Because that’s the only thing that he can do right now. God, adult life and decisions are hard.

Fuck.

Sirius and Remus Interlude

Sirius and Remus sat quietly in Sirius's office enjoying each other's company. They were currently situated next to the small fireplace in the back of Sirius’s office. Remus was sitting in the big arm chair that was in the room with many papers from his different classes that he was grading with a large glass of coco next to him. Sirius was currently propped by the window with it slightly agar as he smoked his cigarette. He had been sitting next to Remus a few minutes ago holding his hand while he sat in the chair next to him as he skimmed through the book he’d been reading. However when he had taken out his cigarette Remus had started smacking him and scolding him in *wealsh till he went to smoke by the window. They had AC/DC playing from the record player quietly because why in gods name would Sirius want to listen to anything else. 

Sirius was giving into the “moody, broody, angsty” mood as he stared off into the night filled sky trying to figure out what he should do next in his life right now. Him and Moony were as perfect as any couple could be. True, Moony was better than Sirius but he’s known that for years. He could always count on Moony, even if the world was falling apart Moony would be there standing strong. Which is what he needs right, he does not know what to do about either of the kiddos. Harry and Draco. Harry, there was always something going on with him. It was never his fault to be fair, trouble just seemed to follow the poor boy. However, ever since the term had started Sirius could tell that Harry was hiding something from him. Which is weird because Harry usually tells Sirius everything, they are incredibly close, however Sirius can tell that he’s hiding something from him. All in due time he guesses. 

That brings him to Draco. Oh sweet Jesus, he thinks as he breaths a ring of smoke out with a deep sigh. There is so much to unpack there. There is a lot that he has been able to pick up from the minimal exposure that he has had with the boy. It also helps that Remus has told him a bit, but he knows that he hasn’t told him everything so he can keep the boy's trust and his promise. Which Sirius gets and respects more than anything. Oh, Sirius understands him better than anyone. He grew up in the Black house, relatives of the Malfoys and he had to deal with his fair share of- He just understands why Draco acts and reacts the way that he does. He wishes that he could get the boy to trust and confide in him, but that kind of trust would be difficult to gain if he wasn’t a Balck. Unless of course you were Remus, but who could dislike Remus? Exactly. So, He guesses he’s just going to have to do the thing that he hates more than anything, wait. Wait until Draco can trust, hopefully that’ll happen sooner then later though. 

Remus has put away the papers he had been grading in their perspective folder and then placed the folder into his tote bag roughly twenty minutes ago. He had been unable to put all of his focus on his students' work and that was unfair to them so he had put them away for the night, to be graded at a later late. So he sat with his feet tucked under him in a curled position with his mug of coco in his hands and a blanket laid across his lap as he stared into the fire. As the vibrant auburn and crimson colored flames danced across the wood all Remus could think about was that small and timid platinum blonde hair boy he’d met only a few weeks ago. What was he going to do about him?

He’d gotten to know him a little bit better over time. His favorite books, music he liked, the friends he’d been making, the new things he’d been exposed to that he hadn’t been privy to before he got here (that broke his heart more than anything), his class and teachers- god that was a disaster wasn’t it? Snape and Greyback, **mab ast, what are the odds? But so far they had been uneventful, well at least according to Draco. However, he knew that Draco wasn’t telling him everything. Despite everything that boy had been through he was still utter shit at lying, which would be funny if Remus didn’t think too hard on the trouble it must have caused him back h-... Back at the house he had stayed at before he got here. 

Something was wrong with Draco Yes, he did seem to be getting used to his new life and there seemed to be a certain glow when he was around his friends. More so with Harry, curious. However, when he had gotten here and had his evaluations he had been deemed fine. Both medically and physically, and Remus and anyone who had a pair of eyes would have been able to tell that that was utter nonsense. Despite his constant comments to the headmaster he had dismissed him and told him that everything was fine now. Everything however was not fine now. 

Remus knows it isn’t his place. He isn’t the one who found the boy, he isn’t his guardian, a doctor, or social worker. He isn’t anyone important, he KNOWS that. But that can all be damned to hell. There is no way that he is going to see a child hurting and do nothing about it. No, no ever again. There was no way that Draco escaped the Malfoy Manor after so many years and is suddenly now ok, that’s impossible. No one can escape those people unscathed. He is going to help him in any way he can, he thinks to himself as he takes a shaky breath.

He then feels a strong hand carefully snake into his one free hand not occupied by this mug and give him a gentle squeeze. He looks and sees Sirius looking at him with big concerned eyes looking him over to try and see what’s wrong with him. He has this look on his face as if he can get rid of all the bad in the world. If only Remus thinks. He gently places his now empty mug on the table and gently caresses Sirius’s face with his hand.

“I’m ok” He says to Sirius, his voices softer than a whisper.

“You promise?” Sirius asks back, concern taking over the question.

“No”

To that Sirius closes his eyes for a second and then opens them and places a soft kiss on Remus’s lips.

“We’ll take care of them, both of them, together.” Sirius promised, not needing to explain who “both of them” are. Remus just nods at that. The two of them stare at the fire for a little while longer before deciding to retire to their room for the night, neither knowing yet how they are going to help those two but both knowing they will do their damndest to try. They're the last two marauders after all. 

Harry 

Harry sat on his bed with all of his school work sprawled across it in a semblance of order. It would be great if he was actually studying for midterms. You know, those things that are like mini finals that don’t make or break your grade but can make or break you spirits. Yeah, those things that Harry should most definitely be studying for right now. However, he is a bit preoccupied with having a mini midlife crisis. Yes you can have a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of 19 if you plan to die at 38. Ok that’s a little dark, Harry is just feeling a little panicked right now.

Ever since he met Draco, he has had his attention. Ever since he almost ran him over on his bike, he still feels bad about that by the way. As soon as he had laid his eyes on his pale complexion and stormy grey eyes, Harry knew that he would want to get to know him better. There was this sort of mystery about him that he couldn’t quite place his finger on, but it was so clearly there. He had been wondering about what it could be for months. Despite that he was getting to know him better day by day, night by night, he still had that mysterious factor about him. Last week he had almost given up on trying to figure it out. They had been sitting on the lawn under the old oak tree star gazing as Draco wrote some stuff down, apparently he was really getting into astronomy and astrology. Two very different things by the way. But as Harry had taken a swig of his beer he had thought: Maybe it didn’t matter. There was no doubt that Draco was hiding something from everyone, some secret about himself that no one was privy to, however maybe there was a reason. He is always quite shy about saying anything about his past, there must be a reason as to why that is. Harry doesn’t know what it is, but in due time Draco will open up, he just has to wait. He’d resigned himself to this that night.

However, the next day when he had returned to the completely empty dorm from his Poli Sci class and he had seen a letter in the center of his bed. It wouldn’t have been from any of the other three because they all had booked Mondays that left no time to come back to the dorm when he wasn’t there. The envelope had had nothing on it; no return address, no name, no signature, nada. He had gotten his fair share of threatening letters in the past few years, nothing to concerning through. That is what he had initially thought it probably had been. The difference though, is that this one had somehow in his dorm, on his bed. It had been quite alarming actually. With extreme caution he had opened it and saw an elegantly written letter addressed to a Mr. Harry Potter from someone he’d heard Sirius and Remus mention before, but never met.

Lucius Malfoy. 

The letter had been… shocking to say the least. I mean, it is what is currently causing Harry the inability to focus on his studies right now. The letter had made some wild claims and accusations that Harry hadn’t given much thought to at first but after some research he had found little room for lies in them. Luciuc Malfoy was head of the Malfoy family. FACT. He was married to Narcissa Malfoy. FACT. They were some of the wealthiest and most influential families in all of Britain. FACT. Draco Malfoy is their son and Malfoy heir that ran away from home due to unknown reasons. Fact. These are things that Lucius had told Harry in his letter. He had also told Harry that he wanted Draco to return to the Manor (who the fuck even has a manor or calls their home a manor anymore) as quickly and as quietly as possible. 

Harry hadn’t been inclined to help this man. He considered Draco a friend, a good friend. A friend who clearly had gone through a rough time in his past and seemed to be happy where he now is. He’s helped cheer Harry up when he doesn’t feel like getting out of bed. He had this precious, adorable smile when he was playing with Lyra. He makes sure that Harry at least has a pop tart for breakfast because it’s important to eat three meals everyday, which Harry will do if he gets Draco to eat too. He kills all the bugs Ron is too terrified to. He somehow has tamed Blaise which Ron and Harry initially thought was impossible. He has become a part of Har- their, THEIR little family. He wants to protect him, and he knows their other friends feel the same way. He’s their little Ravenclaw, and Harry's friend. Just friends, nothing more than that.

He had been set on this. As he read to the first half of the letter, he almost didn’t even finish it. He was going to burn the letter as soon as he was done and forget that he even received it. Then he got to the second half. Lucius Malfoy was a shady politician/government person. FACT. He had too much power and had probably received it in an unethical way. FACT. He would step over and on anyone he needed to get done what he deemed necessary. FACT. He had worked with and for the very man who Harry KNEW was responsible for his parents death and was offering Harry information on him. Fact. 

Lucius had said that he had worked closely with Tom Riddle, the man that had tried (and failed luckily) to frame Sirius for the murder of James and Lily Potter. Tom Riddle had killed the Potters, everyone knew it. However, he had someone slip through government officials' fingers and flee. Though he had been deemed “dead” by police, Harry knew he was still out there. And so does Lucius Malfoy apparently. Malfoy said that if Harry gave him certain information on Draco he would give Harry information on Tom that could help him catch his parents' killer. 

So here he remains, sitting at his work unable to focus on anything but Tom Riddle, Lucius Malfoy, and Draco. If he tells Lucius anything he would be selling Draco out and damning him to whatever fate his father has in store, which can’t be good. But if he does nothing, then he could be letting go the only chance of getting any information on the man that took his parents away and caused all of his pain and suffering. So, what is Harry to do?

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Yes, he speaks Welsh in my story  
> ** Son of a bitch in Welsh


	11. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finals are over so everyone decides to have a movie night to celebrate, options are brought to light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned! I was cranking out chapters for this story and my other one on here so I took a week break because I was a little burnt out and then the election happened and that was stressful but it seems like we’ll be ok, and then I had to go to the doctor cause my body is shutting down so I have been kind of stressed about my health, and college has a lot of work because I only have three weeks left. But I’m here now, again sorry about that. Didi not mean to go exactly a month without updating. Here is the new chapter hope you enjoy it. My friend and I edited it but if you see any mistakes please let me know (nicely). Kudos and comments are appreciated, hope you all are staying safe.

The group is all hanging in the room designated for the Gryffindor students. Each house had a big common/rec room designated for them. There weren’t rules about going to other houses rooms though so everyone (Draco, Ron, Harry, Blaise, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Fred, and George) is hanging around the fireplace. Some are on the floor others are on a couch. They are all posed in various positions of exhaustion from the torture that schools hide under the term of “mid terms”. Even Hermione had her head resting on Ron’s leg with her eyes closed tired from her constant stress and studying.    
“Sound off, who wishes they were dead right now?” Harry calls from the loveseat that he is sharing with Draco. Draco is about half asleep right now. His head is resting on Harry’s shoulder with his eyes half open and humming to the song that is playing off the bluetooth speaker. Everyday Draco gets closer and closer to Harry. It has reached the point where the two of them are almost always attached to each other whenever the group hangs out. Various versions of “yes” are mumbled around the fireplace by everyone.

“I think I failed the latin portion of my history class” George remarked matter of factly.

“Well if you failed it I most certainly did too.” Fred added on

“I DEFINITELY failed all of my classes” Ron says with a resolved look on his face. 

“I doubt you failed ALL of them” Blaise answered, his voice devoid of sarcasm and the causal mocking tone that was ever so present when he would normally talk with Ron.

“I talked about the french revolution in my german class.” Ron responds

“Well…” Blaise has nothing to say to that 

“Hush I’m sure you all passed your tests.” Hermione shushed them patting Ron’s leg slightly condescending. 

“Easy for you to say, you probably aced all of your tests and you want to know why?” Ron shoots back. Sensing an impending fight between the two, (they seemed to be fighting even more nowadays, usually started due to Ron) Draco decides to jump in.

“Because she hasn’t stopped studying for the past 3 weeks.” Draco mumbled out causing everyone, even Ron and Hermione, to laugh. They all sat in the silence for a few more minutes, enjoying the calming vibe that they exuded. 

“We should do something to celebrate” Luna’s airy voice cut through the quiet

“What are you suggesting babe?” Ginny asks

“We haven’t done a movie night in quite a while.” That seems to spark a new found energy amongst everyone. As they start talking in excited voices agreeing with Luna and saying how they haven’t done that in forever and what not. Draco just looks confused though. He looks over at Harry with a curious look on his face.

“What’s a movie night?” Draco whispers to him

“Oh we used to do them all the time. We’d all bring food, weed, and some wine to share. Dress in our comfiest clothes and play games while watching Disney movies for hours.” Harry explains. 

If Draco had known that what he was about to ask would incite to craziness that later insured, he might have just kept his mouth shut.

“What’s Disney?”

* * *

Draco has never had friends before coming to school. He has never declared this audibly to his friends but he assumes that they have picked up on it. However Draco has read quite a bit about friendships from books and has picked up on some things from his short time being around his “group”. Some of those things are general like your friends should defend you and have your back. Friends cover for each other and should confide in each other. Some were more specific to each friend like Blaise shows his affection by buying Draco coffee. Or Hermione shows her love by giving him her notes when he is stressed, even though she doesn’t give ANYONE her notes. Or Harry shows his love by just being Harry. 

However, the way they were all reacting right now…. Draco had no idea what was happening right now. As soon as the words “What’s Disney?” leave Draco's mouth pure chaos ensues. Harry jumps with a look of shock plastered on his face, his sudden movement causes Draco to flop down on the now suddenly empty loveseat. Ginny starts yelling at him, asking how he can not know what Disney is. Blaise looks at him with a look of pity not saying anything. The twins are doing their duel speaking thing that Draco just can’t follow. Ron is sprouting quotes from something that Draco has no idea what they are from. 

“Hey...Hey...HEY!!!” Hermione yells at everyone to try and get some control on the room. “Will everyone please stop acting like we just saw someone murdered. Draco, do you really not know what Disney is?” Hermione questions him, everyone’s eyes turn towards him.

“Uh…. no? Is it like a movie or something?” He says but as soon as he says that it only seems to infuriate the group more. Fred and George jump up and start throwing questions at him.

“Do you know what Monsters Inc is?”

“No”

“Lion king?”

“No”

“Star wars?”

“No”

“Coco?”

“No”

“Big Hero Six?”

“No”

“Finding nemo?”

“No”

“DO YOU KNOW WHO MICKEY MOUSE IS????” Fred all but yells at him but Draco just shakes his head. 

Harry shakes out of his haze and claps his hands loudly demanding the attention of the group.

“Fellas, it seems like we are going to have to plan the Disney night to end all Disney nights.” He declares with a determined voice and the group all voices their agreement with him. Ginny gets up and moves to join Draco in the love seat. 

“Should I be worried?” He asks her 

“Almost definitely” Ginny responds as she leans on him and everyone around them plans this “Disney” night.

* * *

“So I didn’t want to ask in front of everyone because I assumed there was a story behind it but how do you not know what Disney is?” Harry asked Draco. 

The two of them are walking around the general store located about a mile from the school. The movie watch thing is tonight and Harry has been tasked to get any drinks, food, or additional necessities for the night. He had obviously dragged Draco with him because the two of them apparently can’t be separated from each other for more than five minutes (not that Draco is complaining). Something Draco should explain to be more specific when he said the two of them are walking around the store together what he meant is that he is pushing the cart around the store while Harry is sitting in the cart grabbing things off of the shelves he thinks they need. If Hermione or Blaise were here Draco has no doubt that they would call him immature, Draco finds it cute and endearing though. He can’t help but have a soft smile on his face as he watches Harry giggle when they catch an older couple looking at the two of them strangely. 

“Draco?” Harry calls up to him from where he has propped himself in the cart.

“Huh?” Draco says getting caught off guard as he stops pushing the cart as they stand next to the snack aisle. Harry rolls his eyes and gracefully (how can you even gracefully get out of a cart?) steps out of the cart. Once he is in the right position he ruffles Draco's hair causing him to blush a deep shade of pink and stutter quite a bit. This causes Harry to laugh at him and Draco to scurry down the aisle to grab a snack. How come when Harry does these little things it makes him react like this? Is this normal with friends? He is just getting his heart to slow down a bit when he feels two arm snakes around his waist and a chin rests on his right shoulder. He jumps a little at the sudden contact but then feels a deep rumble against his back that lets him know it’s Harry. 

“You’re a little jumpy today aren’t you?” Harry asks him in a teasing tone. 

“Only with you Har” Draco mumbles with a fake annoyed tone to his voice but he doesn’t shrug Harry off of him.

“Is that a promise Dray?” He whispers back in a husky voice.

“Yep” He replies, his voice slightly higher than usual. He tries to reach up and get a box of gummies but he is constricted with Harry leaning on him and because of how short he is. He feels Harry detach (and he does not miss the contact, no way) and grabs the box for him. 

“Thanks” 

They both head back to the cart but this time Draco climbs inside to check off their list. He tells Harry that the only thing left is for them to pick up a couple of movies that are on the “must watch” list so they head over. 

“You never answered my question, you’re not obligated to obviously.” 

“Oh, I don’t think I heard you. What was your question?” That’s a lie, he had heard Harry’s question but needed to think of a response that Harry would believe. 

“How come you don’t know what Disney is?” 

“I’m not sure, my parents just never showed it to me. I mean I’ve told you how they brought me.” That was true, Harry did know a bit of how Draco was brought up. To be honest everyone did, Blaise and Harry knew the most about his upbringing but it’s hard to keep that kind of stuff a secret when you have such obvious brain gaps. 

“What movies did they show you then?” Harry asks, genuinely curious. With most people Draco would clam up and avoid answering but with Harry he feels at ease telling him stuff about his past.

“I didn’t”

“You didn’t what?”

“I didn’t watch movies,” Draco says as he looks to his right and runs his fingers through the clothes as they pass them, feeling the different fabrics.

“Any movies?” Harry asks him

“No, my parents were convinced that they would poison me. When I lived home my laptop was heavily restricted so I couldn't find things they didn’t want me to. When I left I bought myself a phone and a ticket to get to Hogwarts. That was the first time I could look at the web unrestricted but I didn’t want to be overwhelmed so I just listened to music.” Draco answers him, he can see that Harry wants to ask him something else but is resisting to do so.

“What is it Har?” Draco asks, looking at him with pure curiosity. Harry has some sort of internal struggle but just shakes his head. 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. I’m sorry you were so sheltered, but don’t worry we’re going to change that starting tonight with this.” He picks up a movie from the shelf and thrusts it into Draco's hands.

“ Big Hero 6? ” He asks 

“Don’t worry it’s a classic, trust me?” 

“ No matter what.” Draco says as he smiles up at Harry. He sees something pass through Harry’s eyes though, it’s gone too fast for Draco to be sure what it is though. He thought it may be guilt, but what would Harry have to be guilty about regarding Draco? He would never betray him so Draco just pushes the doubt in his mind to the back as they continue shopping together.

* * *

“Let's get this party started!!!” Fred and George yell as they enter the dorm room already pulling drinks out of their bags. Draco saw them enter from where he was standing behind the counter of their mini kitchen mixing a drink for himself and Blaise. The floor of their dorm has been taken over by blankets and pillows and other soft and fluffy things. Everyone had their own area set up, Draco just so happened to set his up next to Harry… totally on accident. They had a white bed sheet pinned to the wall and a projector setup that the movie was going to play from. 

“Come on Draco, we want to start the movie and we can’t do that without the guest of honor.” Ginny calls from where she is seated caressing Luna’s head that is in her lap. 

“Guest of honor?” Draco asks as he heads over passing Blaise his drink and taking a sip of his own.

“But of course, you are going to lose your virginity today.” Draco was not expecting THAT. His face turns redder than Ginny or any of the Weasleys' hair. He starts hacking up an lung trying, and failing, to get himself under control. Blaise looks at him sympathetically.

“I’m going to what now?” He asks his voice hoarse from all his coughing

“You’re Disney virginity of course” Ginny replies with a look in her eyes as if she knows something he doesn’t, and he does not like that one bit. 

“Leave the poor boy alone and start the movie Gin” Harry scolds as he takes his place next to Draco. “Don’t worry about her, she'll start making out with Luna and forget about us common folk in 20 minutes.” Ginny shrugs in agreement with Harry which gets a laugh out of Draco. 

“You’re gonna love these movies though, I promise.” And who is Draco to disagree with Harry, so he just nods as the screen comes to life. 

* * *

**(shifting perspectives from Draco to Harry)**

They were currently on their fifth movie. So far they have watched Big Hero 6, Meet the Robinsons, Monsters Inc., Lion King and were currently half way through Atlantis: The Lost Empire, or the people that are left are currently watching it. Fred and George had stubbled back to their dorm drunkenly with the help of Luna and Ginny. Hermione was leaning on Rons shoulder, still awake, but only barely. Harry knew that something was going on with the two, Ron was clearly keeping something from Hermione and if Harry could tell then Hermione clearly could. However they were both of his best friends so Harry knew that Hermione was also keeping something from Ron but he was not about to insert himself in their relationship issues… just yet. Blaise was wide awake sipping something while he  **seemed** to have all his attention on the movie but Harry did not miss the side glances that he was giving him. He probably owed those glances all to Draco who was currently curled up in a little ball with his head resting on Harry’s leg, Harry gently stroked his sleeping head tenderly. 

“So are we just not going to talk about it?” Blaise asked, keeping his attention straight ahead. 

“What are you talking about?” Ron mumbled trying to rub the sleep from his eyes

“Harry.” Blaise answered, turning to look at the other four, though one of them is knocked out cold with no chance of waking up till the morning. 

“What are you talking about?” Harry asks, feeling himself get slightly defensive. 

“You have to be kidding me” Blaise scoffs as he throws both his hands out gesturing to Draco and Harry.

“Blaise” Hermione’s voice has a very subtle edge to it, as if warning him without outwardly saying it. Blaise is quite perceptive and probably caught it but Harry knows that when he wants to say something, he’s going to say it. 

“No, like are we going to let this happen?” 

“How about you say what you want to say Blaise instead of doing whatever it is you are doing right now.”

“You really want me to?” Blaise challenges

“Yes” Harry responds in a hard tone. Hermione and Ron, now wide awake watch the two of them descend into their fighting attitudes and not speak up on the manner again. 

“You taking advantage of Draco” Blaise says in a icy tone

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“How the hell am I taking advantage of him? By being a friend and-”

“Oh don’t you even try, you are being more than a friend to him. As long at you and Ron have been friends I don’t think I have ever seen you stroke his hair. Am I wrong?” Blaise directs his question at the other two and Hermione just looks down at her hands.

“Don’t bring us into whatever this is mate.” Ron raises his hands in a surrender stance. 

“Ron, come one. You have to be on my side.” Harry looks at his best friend for support.

“Mate, you know I never agree with this wanker and always have your back…”

“Thank you-”

“...but I have to agree with him on this one.” Ron finishes at a steady pace. 

“What” Harry whips at Ron causing Draco to shift a bit but still stay fast asleep. 

“Not advantage, or at least I don’t think so. But you can’t say that you don’t treat him differently then any of us- and that’s fine, just admit it.” Ron tries to calm him down.

“I mean I guess but that’s cause it’s Draco and-” Harry can’t finish his sentence before Hermione's quiet and calm voice cuts through.

“Harry, you justifying it by saying it’s him means he’s more than just a friend and I think that’s nice. Draco is sweet and caring and all that but let's not act like he’s…” Hermione looks around and struggles to find the right word.

“Normal.” Blaise finishes with ease.

“Wow.” Harry says in a sarcastic tone.

“He’s not, and I would say that to his face. Look I’m gonna say what all of us are too afraid to say, he isn’t normal or like us. I think we can tell that from his lack of basic knowledge, lack of social skills, his mannerisms- the boy didn’t know what Disney was for god's sake. He isn’t normal, his upbringing must have been rough to say the least. I honest to god don’t think he has ever had the sex talk. He’s a child for all intensive purposes- EVEN LEGALLY.” Blaise finishes throwing his hands up. No one says anything, not even Harry. They all stare at Draco who is burrowing himself more into Harry as if seeking comfort. 

“I’m not trying to be a dick Harry, seriously. But Draco has issues and I don’t think you should be pursuing him right now. He just moved here, only knows us, and seems pretty alone. He needs friends not a boyfriend. I doubt he’s even had one. And we all know you have. Ginny, Cho, Cedr-” 

“Don’t you dare bring up Cedric Blaise. After everything…. You don’t get to speak his-” 

“He was my best friend Harry. You weren't the only one… that’s not why I brought that up. You have a romantic history and you know relationships and all that. I would bet money Draco doesn’t, do you even know his sexuality? Does Draco even know his sexuality?” Blaise cuts off Harry in a cool and calm tone. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife right now, if Harry wasn’t being held down by Draco he would have stormed over to deck Blaise by now. 

“This is none of your business Blaise.” Harry responds as he gets up and carefully picks up Draco, still sleeping, and moves to place him in his bed. 

“But it is, he trusts me and I cannot in good conscious condone whatever this is.” Harry just ignores him and places Draco in his bed putting the blankets up to his chin and Lyra goes to nestle on his chest. At some point Ron must have left to walk Hermione back to her dorm. Once Harry sees that Draco is all good he turns around and almost walks into Blaise unaware he was standing right behind him.

“I know you Harry, I know that you care about your friends and family. However I also know two things. One, I need to and will protect Draco from being hurt from anyone, have it be intentional or unintentional. And two, you are hiding something. Maybe it’s a stupid thing, but maybe not. But I know it involves Draco. So, I will not rest until I figure it out.” With that Blaise heads to his bed whipping the curtains closed around him without another word.

Harry goes to his own bed but can’t fall asleep for hours. Blaise is right, of course he is. That freaking letter weighs on Harry like a ton of bricks but who should Harry be more loyal to: the dead or the living. Everyday the answer seems to get farther away and further away. But in the end he’ll make the right decision, he always does...right?

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all I hope you liked the chapter. I was wondering if there are any other characters you’d be interested in seeing or or ships you’d want to see, let me know and I can put it in the story. Or if there is just something you really want to see in general let me know and I'll see if I can fit it in.
> 
> Next chapter (rough) summary: After movie night Draco freaks out. Though he knows that everyone in the “group” is supper accepting he still has it ingrained in his mind that being gay is a horrible thing from his father and is too scared to come out to anyone. He goes and talks with Lupin about how to deal and move past this. Lupin tells him about who he’s in a relationship with and how he came to accept himself.


	12. Shattering realities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco talks with his roommates and then has to talk with Lupin as he comes to some realizations about his upbringing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Gay slurs (homo in a negative context), mention of abuse
> 
> I’M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO POST I DIDN'T MEAN TO GO OVER A MONTH WITHOUT POSTING I AM USUALLY SO MUCH BETTER AT POSTING. BUT HERE IT IS, AGAIN I AM SO FREAKING SORRY
> 
> So without further adieu here is the chapter. I hope you enjoy it, I apologize for any typos and what not. Comments, likes, and what not make me smile. ENJOY:)
> 
> *I had to edit this chapter because of a mistake one of you pointed out to me. I am working on the new chapter right now.

October 29th 1992*

Something was off, Draco could tell this the moment he woke up the next morning with his throbbing headache. 

From the moment he opened his eyes that dark and musty morning he regretted. It instantly felt as if someone had opened up his head and was juggling his brain like a soccer ball. Despite this however he wasn’t at a total loss, the cat purring right next to him gave Draco a sense of comfort that no pain killer could. (But a pain killer would probably help right about now.)

After contemplating getting up or throwing out his head and going to the black market to purchase a new one, he decided on the former of the two options. He stumbles over to the coffee machine not paying attention to anything else. Once he gets there he brews some liquid goodness and gets Lyra her breakfast so she would let him suffer in peace. He inhales the smell of his coffee taking in the euphoric scent of it. After a couple of sips he settles himself and is able to look around and grasp his surroundings. 

His groggy brain is very slowly starting, like one of those block type computers from the 1990’s. Once it does however a bit of his memory comes back to him: Harry and him at the store, getting ready for movie night, drinking a gallon worth of alcohol, watching movies, laying on Harry, then it gets blurry and...black. 

He looks around the dorm to see the other three are awake as per usual at this time in the morning. Draco likes his sleep, what can he say? That being said, there is clearly something going on with them (more specifically Blaise and Harry). Ron is studying, which was Draco's first sign that something was wrong. He has only ever seen Ron study when Hermione was forcing him to with the threat of physical harm if he doesn’t. He seems to be so focused, or pretending to be so focused, on his book that seems as if he might fall into it. Blaise is trying to sketch something but every few seconds his pencil breaks and he is trying to erase it aggressively as he glares at Harry with a burning fire in his eyes. Harry is aggressively texting someone on his phone while flicking off Blaise every couple of minutes. So they seem only slightly more hostile towards each other then usual. 

“Are you guys good?” Draco cautiously calls out from where he is standing: leaning against the counter. They all quickly turn towards him as if they were completely unaware of his presence, which is entirely possible if Draco is honest.

“Oh we’re _fine_ ” Harry says emphasizing the fine which just makes Draco know that they are anything but fine.

“Really because it seems like-” Draco starts to say but is cut off as Ron slams down his notes and speaks directly at him.

“Draco can I ask you a question that will hopefully resolve this tension.” Despite Ron reassurance of the tension dissolving Draco can feel himself tense up now that he is aware their disagreement is definitely about him. Maybe not solely him, but he is a large part of whatever their disagreement is about. 

“Ron” Blaise attempts to reprim him in a stern tone.

“Oh hush will you, I’m not gonna be mean. I just think that asking him straight out will avoid another situation that happened last night, so stop being a psycho for 5 minutes ok.” Ron forms it like a question but everyone knows he’s not waiting for an answer. 

“Draco do you like girls, boys, both, none… what’s your deal?” Dracos coffee mug fell from his hand as he felt a cold shiver run over him. He thought back to the countless times his father warned him against having “unsavory” relations with another boy (like he ever got to see one any way) and the time his father caught him… No, he would not fall into this trap again. Draco was many things but a fool was not one of them. Fool him once shame on you, fool him twice shame on him. 

“I’m uh… I’m n-n-no homo I like girls I don’t know why you would even ask that.” 

The reaction in the room was instantaneous. Ron took a step back as if someone had just punched him. Blaise has a glimmer of furry flash over his eyes but then he visibly forces himself to relax, unlike Harry. Harry looked the most upset Draco has ever seen him since he got here. Why? Why do they all look like that? Isn’t that was what he was supposed to say? His father had always told him-

“Is that really what you think Draco? That ‘homos’ are disgusting or something?” Harry says as he swings himself off of the bed and stalks towards Draco. His pace quick and his whole demeanor quite startling. Draco starts to back up to give him some space but once his back hits their counter he can’t do anything but stand there helpless as Harry stands less than a foot away from him. He looks like he wants nothing more than to punch Draco. He’s never seen Harry like this before, and if he never sees it again after today he’ll be happy. 

“Hey Potter! Why don’t you take a couple steps back, aye?” Blaise barks out as he physically pushes Harry away, at some point he must have made his way over but Draco had been too distracted paying attention to Harry to have noticed. 

“Blaise are you kidding me, do you hear what-”

“Yes I did, unlike you I have perfect sight and vision. So how about you calm THE FUCK down for a fucking minute so we can have an adult conversation. Was I wrong? What did I tell you last night?” Blaise seems to be getting more and more aggressive with each passing second but Draco would just like to know what they talked about last night. Harry still looks upset but he calms down a hair, and though Draco can tell that he’s still mad he seems… upset? Sad maybe? It doesn’t make any sense though, he thought that was the right answer…

“Did I say the wrong thing?” Draco asks in a timid voice, panic taking over. The other three just look at each other, anger dissipating from them as they seem to have a silent conversation amongst each other. 

“Draco, what do you know about being gay and the community?” Blaise asks him

“I-I-I don’t know that much. I just know that they are people who are the same gender and that it is bad. ” He feels as if his brain is going into overdrive right now, trying to figure out what the correct thing to say is. However each time he says something it seems to set one of them off more. 

“Draco why do you say that?” Harry asks him, anger lessened but hurt is still there in his eyes. 

“Because that’s the truth.” Draco says trying to sound confident, but it comes out sounding quite unsure of himself, with his voice wavering with a tremor in it. 

“Why do you say that?” Blaise asks him in a gentle tone. The kind you would hear when someone is talking with a scared animal or abused child, which Draco is neither. 

“B-b-b-b-ecause that’s what my dad always said…” It’s barely a whisper but everyone hears it. The silence in the room is deafening because no one knows what to say to that. Draco just stands there leaning against the counter. He is visibly trembling with stress or fear of some kind. He’s never talked about his parents before, he assumed that the others could make their own judgments but he’d never out right said “my dad did this” or “my father told me that”, so this was uncharted territory for them.

“Oh Draco…” Harry doesn’t even finish the sentence as he begins to realize that what Blaise said last night may have had some truth to it.

“Come on.” Blaise comes and gently grabs Draco's hand and drags him out of the room, not letting him change out of his pajamas or even put on shoes. Draco doesn’t object to this because he is still trying to wrap his head around if being with another boy is allowed? Before today he’d say no, that what his father had taught him all through his childhood, but now…. He wasn’t so sure.

* * *

“Hello boys, I’m surprised to see you this early on a Saturday. How can I help you?” 

Draco doesn’t know why Blaise dragged him to Lupin's office at 10am in the morning, on a Saturday, so he is just as confused about this turn of events as his professor is. 

Despite the fact that it is the weekend their professor is dressed in the same kind of professional outfit that he’d wear in class. 

“I’m not quite sure sir, Blaise just dragged me out of our dorm without another word. I’m not even wearing shoes right now.” He flexed his shoeless foot to prove his point.

“I see… Blaise care to explain what is going on?” Lupin asks barely concealing his amusement in the situation.

“You need to fix Draco.” Blaise said with an unreadable expression. Draco whipped around to look at Blaise. A look of hurt broke across his face, feeling that his good friend at this school had just confirmed what Draco was fearing: he was broken. He didn’t want to talk with Lupin, he wanted to find a dark corner and cry right now. However as he moved to leave Blaise’s hand whipped out to grip his wrist. The hand grasped around his wrist was tight, almost but now quite bruising. He tried to pull his arm out but Blaise would not give. Blaises eyes never looked at Draco though, they always remained trained on Lupin.

“Blaise, what the- what is the meaning of this?” Lupin looks as if he is debating physically removing the two boys from each other. His eyes dart between them trying his best to understand what is going on but it doesn’t matter how hard he tries if Blaise doesn’t provide him some more information he is going to remain confused. 

“Draco was raised in a homophobic household and I need someone to teach him what he was taught is wrong and I know he trusts you so here.” Blaise not so gently pulls Draco towards Lupin, turns, and leaves without waiting for a response. Lupin and Draco just stare at each other still trying to understand what had just happened. 

“Um… So I guess you should come in? I just made a fresh pot of coffee.” Lupin says and Draco stumbles into the room pulling up a chair next to where Lupin was set up. On his desk lay his laptop, numerous paper, and a mug with steam arising from the coffee in it. The mug looks like it was handmade, not well, but definitely handmade. There is the word “moony” painted on the outside in a crimson red which is a popping contrast to the white of the mug. 

“Here you go.” Lupin says as he places a mug of coffee in his hands, just the way he knows Draco likes it. 

“Thanks.,” Draco says in a hushed voice, feeling the pressure of the impending conversation.

“So…”

There it is.

“You want to tell me what’s going on.” Lupin says as he sits on the desk looking at Draco. His eyes are glued to Draco's face. The nice contrast between his roomates faces from earlier and his professors face right now is that Lupins is completely judgement free. Despite the tidbit that Blaise had just given him he was clearly waiting to hear Dracos side of the story. Being around Lupin made Draco feel safe, something that was fairly new to him.

“To be honest, I’m not 100% sure. It all seemed to happen at once.” Draco confesses in a slightly perplexed voice.

“Well, why don’t you tell me what you remember happening and then maybe the two of us can put it together to figure out why some of your friends seem to be upset.” Lupin says and that sounds easy enough to Draco.

“Well, it started after I got up this morning. I had poured myself cup of coffee-”

“Oh so you already had a cup?” Lupin asks with his eyebrow arched in an amused manner. But Draco just pulls his mug closer to his chest with a horrified look on his face at the mere suggestion of giving up his coffee, after this morning he definitely deserves this second cup of coffee. 

“I fear I may be subjected to harm if I attempt to take that mug from you, continue.”

“So I looked around and saw that there was something going on with the other three.”

“Something?” Lupin questions.

“They looked really tense and kind of angry with each other. Blaise and Harry started having a spat amongst each other and mentioned something about last night-”

“What happened last night?”

“That’s just the thing I don’t know. We had a get together thing but I fell asleep earlier than them. So from what I can assume something happened between them last night while I was asleep.” Lupin gives him a long and thoughtful look trying to decipher and take apart everything that he’s being told.

“So why are they mad at you?” 

Oh that. Draco looks down at his hands in his lap. Twisting and tearing apart a random piece of paper he had found on his teachers desk and had grabbed while he was talking. He had used it to attempt to calm his nerves however it wasn’t working right now.

“Draco whatever you tell me I promise I won’t be mad or angry with you. You can tell me and then just the two of us will talk about it. Ok?” Draco nods timidly at that not looking up from staring at his lap.

“Ron asked me who I liked, boys or girls, and I told him I was no homo.”

“Homo?” Lupin asks, an eyebrow raised ever so slightly. 

“Yeah.” Draco looks up, eyes filled with concern about if his professor's reaction is going to be anything like his roommates not too long ago.

“Why did you say that?” Lupin asks calmly. It surprises Draco to hear someone ask him that so calmly because of the extreme reaction that came out of Harry. 

“What do you mean why?”

“Why do you say that? What made you come to this conclusion. Let's tackle this like a paper, alright? You love writing.” Draco just nods as he feels himself calm down a bit more.

“So your claim is that dating someone of the same gender is wrong, why do you say this? What is the evidence that made you come to this conclusion?” 

“My father” Draco whispers. Lupin's eyes get big, this is the first time Draco has mentioned that man to him and he wants to proceed as carefully as possible as they cross into this uncharted territory. 

“Draco…” 

“My fathers name is Lucius Malfoy, **the** Lucius Malfoy. Head lawyer and CEO of the Malfoy company, but you knew that, didn’t you Remus?”

The fact that Draco just used his teachers christan name changes the whole atmosphere and tone of the room. As a second ago it was serious with humor sprinkled in the use of it seems to suck all the humor out of the room.

“I had some suspicions due to how similar the two of you look. But I thought your mother lost the child? It was all over the papers.” Lupin says in a puzzled voice.

“That’s what they paid the hospital and staff members to say. They wanted to keep me a secret and away from others as much as possible. I saw very few people as it took a lot for people to be deemed as acceptable company in the eyes of my parents. You know Blaise knows? He was one of the few people I was able to see but once my father saw that that brought me joy he didn’t let me see anyone my own age.” Draco stares at the crack in the wall right next to his teacher's head knowing that if he looks at him in the eye he will lose all the confidence that he has gained up until this point. 

“He taught me a lot of rules throughout my life, and he did everything humanly possible to make sure that they stuck with me too. **Everything.** I could recite to you the Malfoy rule book, all 500 pages of it right now in french, greek, or english. My father has trained me to be the best soldier possible. If he ever saw an imperfection in me he would carve it out of me and enjoy replacing it with himself. Imperfections were unacceptable, being a fag was something he didn’t think that he would have to teach me out of. He assumed that I would never even have the opportunity to divulge in that “urge” with how much I was watched.” Draco can feel himself slowly disassociate as memories begin to flood back.

“Who was he?” Draco blinks. His eyes are closed for some time as he takes the shakiest breath. He tries to get a grip on his emotions as they begin to steadily unravel. He opens his eyes looking into Lupins, who are filled with such worry and devastation that Draco knows he’s about to amplify. He tries to blink the water out of his eyes but one tear manages to escape and cascade down his face. 

“Caspian. His name was Caspian... but I called him Cas. He had the curliest brown hair you could ever see. His skin was this gorgeous tanned color. His face had at least a million freckles on it and there was always a smudge of mud on his right cheekbone no matter what he had been doing before seeing me. He always wore these vans that had at one point in time been white but were no longer that color. His fashion sense was always evolving but there was always that stupid samon colored beanie on his head. He was the prettiest boy you would ever meet, and he was amazing.”

“How did you two meet?”

“By the help of the gods. I would be allowed 25 minutes in the garden once a week if I had satisfied my parents expectations. Our butler was supposed to watch me but he typically let me roam free as he stood guard. I had made it to the edge of the garden when I saw something poke out from the bottom of the edges. He was the gardener's new assistant and had fallen asleep working. When he saw me, his eyes lit up with this mischievous look, he had been one of the lucky few to know of my existence. He told me then and there we were friends and I would have to deal with it.”

“Just like that?” Lupin laughed.

“Just like that.” A sad smile breaks out on Draco's face. “It happened kind of fast after that, every week we would buy the same hedge and he would teach me new things. Music, books, food that I’d never eaten. There was so much he taught me, and…”

“You fell in love.”

“Yes, and it was terrifying. There was nothing, and then it was like I had been pushed off the roof. I was falling hard and fast and there was nothing I could do to slow down. So, we fell in love. We would meet once a week by the hedge for 25 minutes, but it wasn’t enough. We wanted more. So, we tried for more. He would somehow sneak into my room when the sky was filled with stars and the halls of the manor were loud with silence. He would bring chocolate, or new music, or we would just do… stuff.” Draco tries to make a joke but Lupin's expression just radiates sadness.

“He sounds amazing.”

“He was.” Draco nods, another tear slipping down his face. He knows soon that many more will join it.

“Was?” Lupin says fearfully in a tone that tells Draco he knows where the story is headed.

“He’s dead.” Draco purses his lips together as tears silently stream down his face at a steady pace.

“Draco...How?”

“We got cocky and it cost us his life. We fell asleep one night in each other's embrace. My head was resting on his chest as he ran his fingers through my hair till we fell asleep. It was the best I’d ever felt. However it didn’t last. I woke up to someone grabbing my arm and literally ripping it out of its socket. Let me tell you that hurts. Once the shock of the searing white hot pain had dimmed I was able to understand what had happened. My father had caught me, naked, in bed with a random boy. What followed was a beating to put all beatings to shame. They had to call a staff from the hospital to attend to me so I didn’t die after he was through. And I never saw Theo again.”

“How do you know Cas… didn’t make it?”

“Because of this.” Draco reaches into his shirt and pulls out a silver chain with a gold band hanging from it. The shocked expression on Lupin's face is to be expected. No one at this school knows about his chain that he always has on because he takes extra care to make sure no one does. Less questions that way. 

“What is this ri-”

“It was Cas’s grandfathers. He always wore it on his hand, never took it off no matter what we were doing. He was going to give it to the person he would one day marry. When my father gave it to me it had dried blood on it and he told me if I ever did anything like that again I would end up just like him” 

There is nothing to say after that. The two of them sit in silence for an extended amount of time. Neither could tell you how long they sat there because both got lost in their minds. Draco in his horror of understanding what he had just said, that he had admitted this event that happened to him for the first time in his life out loud and to someone else. Lupin is trying to understand and register everything that he has just been told. This isn’t his first time hearing about the horrific and abusive homophobia that someone he cares about has had to endure, but that doesn’t change the shock of it. He knows that he needs to tread very carefully because whatever he says next is going to have lasting ramifications.

“Draco, did I ever tell you I had a husband?” Lupin says to Draco, completely catching him off guard. Yes, Draco was waiting for his response but this calm conversational one is not what he had expected. 

“I-... Um no, I didn’t know you were…”

“Queer? No, yeah. It’s not something I scream in my daily classes, but I’m not ashamed of it.”

“Sir I don’t-” Draco starts to question but Lupin continues as if he didn’t hear him.

“We’ve been together for… Let me see. I am 37 now and we got together in 4th year so I would say roughly 28 years we’ve been together. Quite a long time wouldn’t you say?” Draco just nods because he has no idea where Lupin is with this. 

“So we’ve been through quite a lot. Betrayal, fighting, long nights, early mornings, breakdowns, we’ve lost people we cared about and leaned on each other.” Lupin gazes off for a moment seeming to get lost in his own thoughts or maybe old memories. He snaps out of it almost as quickly as he fell into it.

“Amongst those times though, one memory stands out. Above all except one that I will not burden you with right now. The memory that I am talking about has been burned into my mind. It happened halfway through our 4th year at school, it was two of our friends, my spouse, and me. We were inseparable all through our secondary school days. During our winter holiday we had decided to meet at my friend James house the day after christmas, all four of us. Peter and I had made it there, but my partner was running late, no shocker there. But, after a few hours I started to get more and more worried. Once it reached 1am I decided enough was enough. I grabbed by bag, wallet, my switchblade, and headed out of the house to find him.”

“Where was he?”

“Passed out on the front step of the house.” Lupin responds, still not meeting Draco's eyes. “I was blown away by his appearance, and not in a good way. He had blood covering his face, the little bit of skin that I could see was not the normal pale complexion, his left wrist was twisted in an unnatural direction and from what I saw his foot was almost definitely broken. Once I had gotten over my initial shock I shouted for the others inside. With the helps of James’s parents we rushed him to the hospital and he made a full recovery.”

“What happened?” As those words left Draco lips he knew deep down to a degree what had happened. 

“My now husband's brother had ratted on him dating me to his parents. He wasn’t out, and his parents were less than accepting and they showed him that.”

“That’s horrible.” Draco whispers out. Lupin feels a slight jolt of triumph, like what he is saying is somehow getting to Draco and he just has to land the final blow. 

“Yes it is. I stayed by his bed side for hours until he woke up. When he did he was talking so fast trying to explain what happened and apologizing. Apologizing for what? I’m still not completely sure. Do you know what I told him though?”

“What?” When Lupin doesn’t continue talking Draco looks up and is shocked. Lupin has silent tears going down his scarred face and a look of complete seriousness. As if he is going to say the most important thing on the planet right now. 

“It’s not your fault. You are taught at a young age that your parents will love you unconditionally, but that’s never the case. There will always be conditions, there will always be a line as to how far their love can go. You hope that it would be murder or torture because you’d never do that. But that’s not the case for you. For you, it’s them not being able to control you, more specifically not being able to control who you love. And that’s fine, being gay is ok. There is nothing wrong with that. You are not damaged or broken, you are amazing and spectacular and don’t forget it Draco.”

Draco was barely holding onto his tears already but when Lupin finished his monologue on what he said to his husband back when they were young but finished with Draco's name he lost all control. From this morning, to confessing his history with Theo, to what Lupin just said, Draco lost it. His head collapsed into his head and he sobbed. Harder than he had in awhile. Harder than when he had broken down with Lupin on his first day here. Harder than the last time his father had beaten him. The only time he remembered crying this hard was after Theo. All Draco could do right then and there was weep. 

He feels the comforting and tight embrace of another person trying to console him. Lupin strokes his hair saying soft nothings into his hair. Draco presses his face into Lupin's chest, sobs course through his body as he cries. Lupin gently rubs Draco back trying to get his breathing to steady out and for him to overall calm down.

“There is nothing wrong with you Draco.You were taught horrible and disgusting things at a young age and no one told you differently. But you're not there anymore, you have people who genuinely care about you and your happiness. Family isn’t always blood, you can choose your family and be happy with them.” Draco slowly raises his head from Lupin's chest. His eyes are bloodshot and his face is covered in tears as more come cascading down. He takes a shuddering breath trying to prep himself before he talks. He speaks in the most broken and quiet voice that Lupin has ever heard, he has to strain his ears to catch what Draco is about to say, but he hears him nonetheless. 

“Can you be my new family?” Lupin smiles a genuine smile for the first time this morning. 

“Of course.”

And that’s all Lupin says. Draco may have had his world completely changed today. He may have to do a lot of self discovery. He may have exposed more of his trauma to someone else then he ever thought he would. He may have to reevaluate friendships and what not. He may have no bloody idea what his future holds. But for the first time in his life, Draco has a family. And that seemed pretty fucking great.

* * *

After Draco's sobs had subsided and breathing evened out Lupin talked with him… and talked… and talked some more. They talked for over two hours. When you are raised off of the belief that what you are is wrong it’s gonna take more than five minutes to fix that. Of course it’s not completely gone within those few hours. There will be many more discussions and a lot more correction in his behavior, but they had a start at least. They had established that Draco’s father was not the best person to put it lightly and 90% of what he had taught Draco growing up was rooted in prejudice and straight out just wrong. After the two of them were done talking Draco had gone back to the dorm to change out of his pajamas that he’d been stuck in and put on some actual shoes. He couldn’t stay in the room though, not after this morning's blow up. So when he was dressed he left the dorm with no real destination in mind.

So here Draco is: walking around while he tries to digest everything. He’s heard the saying “my whole life is a lie” from Ron and Harry a few times in the past months that he has gotten to know them. They mean it in a joking manner, typically when they discover something that their parents had neglected to tell them when they were younger. Usually though this was a small thing that frankly they could have gone the rest of their lives without knowing and they would have been fine. What do you do when that is actually true though? When your life is actually a lie? For Draco he cried and then wandered around alone questioning his existence.

Draco’s not stupid, he knew that his father hadn’t been the best person. Draco thought that he had probably told him one maybe two things that were wrong. However, he never thought that everything his father had told him was self motivated, cruel, and a lie. So how does Draco know that anything his father had told him has any truth to it? 

“Draco?”

Draco startles out of his dazed state by someone calling his name. He blinks a few times and notices that he is no longer in Hogwarts. That at some point he had wandered outside of the campus and was moving through the streets. Once his eyes focus on the outside world he can see where the voice came from. Sitting at a small round table alone was Blaise. Nursing what now seems to be a lukewarm Americano with a look of extreme concern on his face. 

“I… I um… I-I I don’t know… Everything is….” Draco tries to form just one sentence but apparently his mind is still in shock and recovering from the events of today. Blaise seems to get that because he walks over, gently takes Draco's elbow and guides him to where he was sitting not moments ago. 

“Stay here I’ll be right back.” Blaise says as he rushes off inside of the cafe. Oh sweet jesus. Draco is having a mini break down and existential crisis and his subconscious decides to take him to his place of work??? Maybe his fathers right, maybe he is self destructive. 

“Here you go.” After what seems like only a few seconds Blaise has returned and is forcing a muffin and large cup of water into Draco's hands. “I do not want to hear one word out of you until you have eaten that muffin and drunk at least half of that cup of water.” Blaise proclaims to him. Leaving no room for argument. So Draco just silently takes the muffin apart as he places it into his mouth. It tastes like sand making his mouth run drier the more he eats it, but he finishes it nonetheless. 

“So… you want to talk about it or have me talk to you or sit here in complete silence?...” Blaise lists off all of the possible ways that the two of them can continue their time together this afternoon. He says it in such a way that Draco can tell he’s trying to convey to Draco that it is totally up to him. 

“How did you know?” Draco manages to get out. It seems like the stuttering has left him but he knows that the terror is still there despite his reality becoming clearer. 

“I’m sorry?” Blaise asks him.

“I know the people you grew up with, your parents, the inner circle, your tutors and what not. It wasn’t that much different from me. So, how do you know? How come you know right from wrong? How do you know what’s ok and what isn’t? How come you understand all of this and I am a blubbering shocked mess?” Neither of them speak for a while. Only the sound of the autumn leaves shifting in the wind passes through their ears as Blaise ponders on what was just said, and Draco waits for an answer.

“I’m not likeable Draco, I think you can tell that from the past few months of you rooming with me. I get annoyed at the smallest things, I argue with our roommates at least once a day, I can be quite a prick given the opportunity, and I don’t stop till I taste blood sometimes. I know these things about myself and I don’t plan to change anytime soon. A lot of this I got from my upbringing, I don’t need to explain that to you, you have lived it. I used to be this cynical, grumpy person who hated everyone around me until I met her.”

“Who?”

“My girlfriend Pansy. I’m not going to bore you with our love story or her story as that’s not my place, but she changed everything. She was able to spot the things that I had been wrongly taught and exterminate that way of thinking. Instead of thinking as a business man in every aspect of my life, she taught me love and tenderness. Now, I am in no ways a hippie now, but my priorities are straight, and it’s all thanks to her.” Draco fiddles with the zipper on his shirt looking down feeling a surge of jealousy at Blaise. For being able to live the same life as Draco but somehow being able to turn out fine unlike Draco. 

“How- How was she able to teach you these things and how were you able to listen and learn from her?”

“Well she didn’t give me much of a choice in the manner.” Blaise says a tiny smile gracing his face again. “Whenever I did or said something that wasn’t the… kindest, she would slap me and tell me why I was being such an, and I quote ‘egotistical brainwashed right winged dumb ass’. Subtlety was not her strong suit. But, she’s my person. She will weather whatever comes our way so that no matter what, she’s there after the storm. Your person doesn’t have to be someone you want to date or marry one day. Your person is just someone you can talk to no matter what it is without any fear. For me that’s my girlfriend.” Blaise reaches over and gives Dracos hands a light reassuring squeeze.

“Let me be your person.” Draco just nods at that as he realizes for the first time besides maybe Lupin that he has someone in his court. 

“So, tell me what you’re thinking.” And Draco does. For the next few hours the two of them talk and talk and talk. By the end of it Draco can’t help but smile as he realizes the turn his life is making, and that smile only grows when he realizes that for once his future isn’t so dark and depressing anymore. Instead of heading into the darkness of the unknown unprepared, blind, and alone he is heading into it with a torch in one hand and his friend's hand in the other. Draco feels hopeful, and damn he could get used to this feeling. 

  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I will be putting the dates at certain points in the chapters and what no so that it's easier to track time for myself and you guys


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